What are the traditional customs in Chinese Valentine's Day?

What are the customs of ancient Valentine's Day in China, Chinese Valentine's Day?

1.

This is the earliest way to beg for cleverness, which began in the Han Dynasty and flowed to later generations.

"Miscellanies of Xijing" said: "Women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles in Jinkai Building on July 7, and people have the ambition of Xi."

The Chronicle of Jingchu Years Old by Liang Zongmou of the Southern Dynasties said: "On July 7th, it was a woman of Xijia family, who was wearing a colorful building with seven holes, or with gold and silver as needles."

"Geographical Records" said: "Emperor Wu of Qi began to visit the city on the first floor. On July 7, court officials tried to thread the needle several times. The world calls it the needle-piercing building. "

The Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On Qixi Festival, the palace was made of brocade, which was hundreds of feet high and could beat dozens of people in the world. Chen baked melons and fruits with wine, set a banquet, worshipped cows and girls, and each of his concubines wore a nine-hole needle, with five-color lines facing the moon. This is a wonderful time. It's fun to play the song of Qing business. The home of the natives is effective. "

Yuan Taozong Yi's Record of Ye Ting in Yuanshi County said: "Chinese Valentine's Day is a place of ingenuity. In the evening, the ladies-in-waiting went on stage to wear Kyubi no Youko needles with colored silk. The person who finishes first is smart, and the person who finishes late is called a loser. Everyone contributed a gift. "

Spiders should be smart.

This is also an early way of seeking cleverness, and its popularity is a little later than that of seeking cleverness with needles, which generally began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Liang Zonggu of the Southern Dynasties said "A Record of Jingchu Times"; "In the evening, Chen Guaguo begged for cleverness in court. If you have a happy subnet on melon, you think it is corresponding. "

The Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On July 7, we all caught spiders in small boxes until dawn; Think of cobwebs as sparse and dense. Secret people have many clever words, while rare people have few clever words. Folk also works. "

Meng Yuan's Dream of Tokyo in the Song Dynasty said that on the seventh day of July, "put a spider in the zygote and look at it the next day. If the net is round, it is just a coincidence. "

Song Zhou Mi's "When I was one year old" said; "How smart is it to store spiders in it and wait for the density of the net?"

"Joy of Xi Tide" in Rucheng, Tian Ming, said that it was clever to put spiders in a small box and see the density of their webs the next morning.

It can be seen that the methods of testing ingenuity in past dynasties are different. The existence of the visual network in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the thinness of the visual network in the Tang Dynasty, and the roundness of the visual network in the Song Dynasty, followed the customs of the Tang Dynasty in later generations.

Needle injection is very skillful

This is a variation of the custom of needlework on Qixi, which originated from needlework and is different from needlework. This is a popular Valentine's Day custom in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Liu and Yu Yizheng wrote in A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital: "On the afternoon of July 7th, we lost a clever needle. When a woman comes into contact with water, the water film looks strange, and the embroidery needle floats and looks at the shadow of the underwater needle. There are clouds, flowers, birds and animals, shoes, scissors and eggplant shadows, which are called clever begging; Its shadow is as thick as a hammer, as thin as silk and as straight as axis wax, which is wrong. "

"Records of Zhili" also said that in Liangxiang County (now southwest of Beijing), "on July 7, women begged for cleverness, threw needles into the water, and borrowed the shadow of the sun to inspect the work, and the night was still begging for cleverness."

Textual Research on the Old News of the Sun in Qing Dynasty quoted Wanbu Miscellaneous Notes as saying: "On July 7th, women in Yan Dou flooded the sun with bowls, and each threw small needles on the water, hoping that the sun would shadow underwater. Or scattered like a flower, moving like a cloud, as thin as a line and as thick as a cone, all because of the ingenuity of the diviner. "

Lan is very clever at night.

This game originated from the court of the Han Dynasty. Jia, the maid-in-waiting of Mrs. Qi, the wife of Emperor Gaozu, often talked about Chinese Valentine's Day in the Han Palace after she left the palace to marry Duan Ru, a man who helped the wind. She said: "On July 7th every year, the Han Palace plays the ancient philosophers first, and then the five colors are tied, which is called" mutual affection ". Later, the ladies-in-waiting went to the retreat building together, and everyone learned to wear seven clever needles to seek cleverness. There is also a maid-in-waiting named Xu Jieyu, who can carve raw lotus roots into various exotic flowers and plants and present them to the emperor. At night, the emperor would put these gadgets on the corner of the table in the palace and let the ladies-in-waiting look for them in the dark. This game is called' Qiao Qiao'. "

Step 5: Grow up and find children.

In the old custom, a few days before Tanabata, first spread a layer of soil on a small wooden board, sow the seeds of millet to make it bear green seedlings, and then put some small huts and flowers and trees on it to make it look like a small village where people live in heaven, called a "shell board", or soak mung beans, adzuki beans and wheat in a magnetic bowl and tie it with red and blue silk threads. All parts of the south are also called "bubble cleverness", and the sprouted bean sprouts are called smart buds. Even the needles are replaced by smart buds and thrown on the water to beg for cleverness. Wax is also used to create various images, such as the characters in the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, or the shapes of animals such as vultures and mandarin ducks, which float on the water, which is called "floating on the water". There are also baby dolls made of wax, which women can buy home and float in the water and soil to show their good luck to their children, and they are called "metaplasia".

6. For Niu Qingsheng

Children will pick wild flowers and hang them on horns on Qixi Day, which is also called "Happy Birthday to Cows". Because it is said that after the Queen Mother of the West separated the Cowherd from the Weaver Girl by Tianhe, the old cow asked the Cowherd to scrape off its skin and drive its cowhide to see the Weaver Girl. In order to commemorate the sacrifice spirit of the old cow, people have the custom of "celebrating the life of the cow".

7. Dry books and clothes

According to the report, Sima Yi was very suspicious of Cao Cao because of his high status and great power. In view of the darkness of politics at that time, he pretended to be crazy and hid at home in order to protect himself. Wei Wudi was still worried, so he sent a close friend to let history secretly explore the truth. It was July 7, and Sima Yi, who was pretending to be crazy and selling stupidity, was also drying books at home. Make history back to leave Wei Wudi, Wei Wudi immediately ordered Sima Yi back to the office, otherwise you can be taken into custody. Sima yi only obediently obeyed and returned to the DPRK.

Another kind of people, in troubled times, express their depression through depravity. They despise etiquette and oppose custom. Liu Yiqing said in volume 25 of Shi Shuo Xin Yu that on July 7th, everyone printed books, and only Long Hao went to bask in the sun. When people asked him why, he replied, "I print books." On the one hand, it despises the custom of printing books, on the other hand, it also boasts about the talent in its belly. Drying your belly is also drying books.

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the custom of hanging clothes in the Han Dynasty created opportunities for rich children to boast about their wealth. Ruan Xian, one of the "Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest", looked down on this style. On July 7, when neighbors were hanging clothes, they saw that the shelves were full of silks and satins, which was dazzling. Ruan Xian unhurriedly picked up a worn-out dress with a bamboo pole. Someone asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I can't avoid customs and tell you!" "

From these short stories, we can see how prosperous the custom of drying books and clothes on Tanabata is.

What are the traditional foods for Valentine's Day in China?

1, eat fruit properly

Valentine's Day in China is also called Beggar's Day. Women will make wishes on this day and pray for skillful hands and skills. Therefore, it is customary to eat appropriate fruit on Tanabata, which is a snack after sesame and flour are mixed and fried.

2. Eat five children

When I'm on Tanabata, I'm going to worship Seven Sisters, the Weaver Girl, as people often say, and Wuzi is my sacrifice when I worship the Weaver Girl. They are made of five kinds of food, including longan, peanuts, hazelnuts, melon seeds and red dates. After the war, you can eat sacrifices and get a little happiness by worshipping the Weaver Girl.