What is Valentine's Day in China?

China Valentine's Day, also known as Qiaoqi Festival, Qijie Festival, Daughter's Day, Beggar's Day, Chinese Valentine's Day, Niu Niu Women's Day, Qiaoxi Festival, etc. , a traditional folk festival in China, is also a "Valentine's Day" in China. Valentine's Day in China, which originated from the worship of stars, is Seven Sisters's birthday in the traditional sense. Because of the worship of Seven Sisters on the seventh day of July, it was named Tanabata.

It is the traditional custom of Qixi to worship the seven sisters, pray, seek skillful art, sit and watch morning glory and weave stars, pray for marriage and store water on Qixi. After historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", making it a festival symbolizing love, thus being regarded as the most romantic traditional festival in China, and even having the cultural meaning of "China Valentine's Day" in contemporary times.

Valentine's Day in China is not only a festival to worship Seven Sisters, but also a festival of love. It is a comprehensive festival with the folk custom of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" as the carrier, with the theme of blessing, begging and courtship, and women as the main body. The "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" on Tanabata originated from people's worship of natural phenomena. In ancient times, planetariums were associated with geographical areas. This correspondence is called "dividing stars" in astronomy and "dividing fields" in geography. According to legend, on the seventh day of July every year, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet at the Magpie Bridge in the sky.

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Dietary Customs of Valentine's Day in China

The dietary customs of Valentine's Day in China vary from place to place and are generally called "smart eating". An image of "Qiao" expresses the uniqueness of Tanabata's food customs and people's good wishes for ingenuity, family well-being and happy life.

1, proper fruit

Appropriate fruit is the most famous festival food on Tanabata. Proper fruit, also known as "jojo fruit", has many styles. "Begging for clever fruit" is a traditional sacrifice and beauty of Valentine's Day in China. On the night of Tanabata, people came to the yard with "Qiaoqiao Fruit", and the family sat together and tasted the craft of making "Qiaoqiao Fruit".

Now this custom is not popular in many places, and the traditional food "begging for clever fruit" has also evolved into various cakes. There are many styles of proper fruit, and the main materials are oil, flour, sugar and honey. In addition, there are many changes in the melons and fruits used in Qiqiao: either the melons and fruits are carved into exotic flowers and birds, or the surface of the melon skin is embossed; This kind of melon is called "flower melon".

2. Crispy sugar

In some places in China, pastry shops will also make some crisp candies with the image of a weaver girl, commonly known as "capable people" and "skillful crisp", which are also called "sending talented people" when they are sold. People believe that people who eat this kind of shortbread will become ingenious.

3. Jojo Rice

In Shandong, China, the custom of begging for clever rice on this day is very interesting: seven good girls collect food and vegetables, wrap jiaozi, and wrap a copper coin, a needle and a red date into three jiaozi respectively. They got together to eat jiaozi after the flattering activities. It is said that they were rich, good at sewing and got married early.

4, melons and fruits

On Valentine's Day in Fujian and China, Weaver Girl should be allowed to enjoy and taste fruits and vegetables, so that she can wish a bumper harvest of fruits and vegetables in the coming year. The offerings include tea, wine, fresh fruit, five kernels (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds), flowers, female cosmetics pollen and so on. Generally, after fasting and bathing, everyone takes turns to burn incense and worship God and pray silently.

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