Chinese Valentine's Day is Tanabata or Lantern Festival

Chinese Valentine's Day is Tanabata.

The Tanabata Festival, also known as Qixiao Festival, Seven Sisters Festival, Daughters' Festival, Beggar's Day, Seven Maidens' Meeting, Tanabata Festival, Bull Bull's Day, Qiao Xi, etc., is a traditional festival of Chinese folklore. The Tanabata Festival is derived from the worship of the starry hosts, and is traditionally known as the "Seven Sisters' Birthday", so it is called "Tanabata" because the worship of the "Seven Sisters" is held on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

Worshipping the Seven Sisters, praying for blessings and making wishes, begging for skillful craftsmanship, watching the star of Altair and Vega, praying for marriage, and storing water for Tanabata are all traditional customs of Tanabata. Through historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of "Cowherd and Weaving Maiden", making it a festival symbolizing love, which is considered the most romantic traditional festival in China, and in contemporary times, it has even generated the cultural meaning of "Chinese Valentine's Day".

Folk Customs of Valentine's Day

The Incense Bridge

In Yixing, Jiangsu Province, there is a custom of the Incense Bridge on the eve of the seventh day of the seventh month. Every year on the eve of the seventh day of the seventh month, people rushed to participate in building incense bridges. The so-called incense bridge is made of all kinds of thick and long wrapped head incense (paper wrapped thread incense) built into four or five meters long, about half a meter wide bridge, fitted with railings, on the railings tied to the colorful thread made of flower decorations.

At night, people offer sacrifices to the two stars, beg for good fortune, and then incinerate the incense bridge, symbolizing that the two stars have walked across the incense bridge to meet each other joyfully. This incense bridge is derived from the legendary Magpie Bridge legend.

Catching Dew

In the rural areas of Zhejiang Province, the custom of catching dew with a basin is popular. Legend has it that the dew at the time of the Tanabata Festival is the tears of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden when they meet, and if it is smeared on the eyes and hands, it can make one's eyes bright and hands fast.

The above references? Baidu Encyclopedia - Tanabata Festival