What day is Valentine's Day in China

Chinese Valentine's Day is The Tanabata Festival, which is celebrated every year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

The Double Seventh Festival, also known as the Festival of Seven Harmonies, the Festival of Seven Sisters, the Festival of Daughters, and the Begging for Harmony Festival, is a traditional Chinese folk festival derived from the worship of the starry hosts and is traditionally known as the Festival of Seven Sisters, and is named after the worship of the Seven Sisters, which takes place on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. The festival is called "Tanabata" because it is held on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

The festival began in ancient times, became popular in the Western Han Dynasty, and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It was endowed with the beautiful love legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden, making it a festival that symbolizes love, and thus is considered to be China's most romantic traditional festival, with customs such as worshipping the moon and praying for blessings, worshipping the Weaving Maiden, eating coquettish fruits, and begging for marriages.

The Legend of Tanabata

The Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden

Legend has it that there is a Weaving Maiden in the sky, and there is also an Altair. The weaving maiden and Altair were in love with each other. However, they were forbidden by the laws of heaven, and were also punished by the Queen Mother, who relegated Altair to the mortal world to live as a cowherd in a farmer's home, with an old cow (the Golden Calf Star) and a broken cart to make ends meet. The Seven Fairies in heaven finally win the opportunity to descend to the mortal world and take advantage of this trip to the mortal world to look for Altair, who was in love in his past life, and through the old ox tells Cowherd the way for them to meet and be together in this life. On this day the old ox told the cowherd, wait a while there will be seven fairies from the sky down to the mortal world to play, which walks in the last fairy, is the youngest sister inside, she is your wife in a past life in this life, but do not go directly to her, the heavenly soldiers and generals of heaven to protect them from afar, mortals can not get close. You must go and leave her purple handkerchief as a token, and wait for the seven fairies to find you through the handkerchief before you can meet. By that night, the bright moonlight scattered on the stream, the cowherd was afraid of being discovered by the heavenly generals and soldiers hiding behind a pile of grass, and saw the love of his past life. So he went up and found the purple handkerchief, a token as the old ox said, and waited for the Seven Fairies. The seven fairies through the purple handkerchief and the cowherd finally met, the cowherd saw the seven fairies the moment, recalled all the memories of their past lives, they lived happily together, and gave birth to a son and a daughter.

When the Queen Mother learned of this, she became furious and sent her heavenly soldiers and generals to arrest the Weaving Maiden and bring her back to Heaven for questioning. The Cowherd put on the cowhide of the old cow who had passed away and possessed the power of the law (the old cow had told the Cowherd before he passed away to make sure to leave behind his own cowhide, which would be a magic weapon to meet with his own wife in the coming days), and chased after the Seven Immortals with their sons and daughters. When the Queen Mother saw this, she took off her golden hairpin and cut a line between them, turning it into an impassable gulf. Cowherd and the Seven Immortals, separated by this gully, were in tears, endlessly pouring out their deep feelings, and crying and pleading for mercy to the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother and the gods were touched by their true love and affection, and could not bear to divide the two people who loved each other so much, but because they were forbidden by the laws of the heavens, they sent magpies to form a magpie bridge, so that the two people who loved each other and their children would meet on the bridge on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar every year. In order to test their willingness to wait for each other in the face of difficulties and obstacles and to confirm their true love for each other, the Queen Mother made it a test for the Cowherd and the Seven Fairies to meet only once a year for 10,000 years in order to be together forever. Even though meeting each other once a year makes it especially difficult for two people who love each other to part and miss each other. But the thought of being together forever after 10,000 years kept the Cowherd and the Seven Fairies working hard to overcome these difficulties and trials.

Customs of the Tanabata Festival

1, casting needles to check the coquettishness

Casting needles to check the coquettishness is one of the traditional customs of the Tanabata Festival, which was prevalent in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Through the embroidery needle into the formation of a water film in the container, to see if it can float, in the bottom of the container to form a pattern, in order to test the wisdom of the clever, also known as the "floating needle to test the cleverness of the" "throw the cleverness of the needle. [14] This is a variant of the Tanabata needle threading begging custom, originating from the needle threading, but also different from the needle threading, is the prevalence of the Tanabata festival in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Ming Liu Dong, Yu Yizheng's "Imperial Capital Scenery" said: "July 7 noon throw the trick needle. Women's exposure to ounces of water in the sun, a short while, the water film surface, embroidery needle casting is floating, look at the bottom of the water needle shadow. There are into the clouds and things flower head bird and animal shadow, there into the shoes and scissors water eggplant shadow, said begging to get coquettish; its shadow is as thick as a hammer, as thin as silk, straight as a shaft of wax, this is a sign of clumsiness carry on." Zhi Shu Zhi" also said, Liangxiang County (now southwest of Beijing) "July 7, women begging for coquettish, casting needles in the water, borrowing the sun shadow to check the work, to the night is still begging for coquettish in the weaver".

Qing Yu Minzhong "under the sun old news exam" quoted in "Wandian Department of Miscellany" said: "Yandu women in July 7 to bowl of water storms under the sun, each cast a small needle floating in the water, Xu see the sun underwater shadow. Or scattered as a flower, moving as a cloud, thin as a line, thick rent as a cone, because to divine the female trick."

2, the seed begs for a son

Old custom, a few days before Tanabata, first in a small wooden board on a layer of soil, sowing corn seeds, so that it gives birth to green shoots, and then set up a number of small huts, flowers and trees in the above, made into the appearance of the field house people in the small villages, known as the "Shell Plates "Or soak mung beans, small beans, wheat, etc. in a magnetic bowl, and wait for it to grow up to an inch of buds, and then tie it into a bundle with red and blue silk rope, known as the "Seed Sang", also known as the "Five Sang Basin" or "Sang It is also called "five pots" or "pots of flowers". In the southern part of the country, it is also called "Qiaojiao", and the bean sprouts are called Qiaojiao, and even Qiaojiao instead of needles are thrown on the surface of the water to beg for coins. Also use wax to mold various images, such as the cowherd, the characters in the story of the weaving woman, or bald eagle, mandarin ducks, and other animal forms, placed on the water to float, called "water floating". There are also wax baby dolls, so that women buy home floating in the water and soil, that the child of the auspicious, known as "Husheng".

3, sun books sun clothes

It is reported that Sima Yi year due to the high position of power, quite subject to Cao Cao's suspicion, in view of the darkness of the politics at that time, in order to seek self-preservation, he pretended to be crazy and sick to hide at home. Emperor Wu of Wei was still not quite at ease, so he sent a close friend to secretly find out the truth. On July 7, Sima Yi was pretending to be crazy, but he was also at home, drying books. When the historian went back to report to Emperor Wu, he immediately ordered Sima Yi to return to his post, or else he would be taken into custody. The first time I saw this, I was able to get a good look at him and he was able to get a good look at me, and I was able to see him.

There is another kind of person who, in the midst of chaos, expresses his frustration by being a free spirit. They flouted the laws of propriety and opposed the customs of the times. Liu Yiqing's "Shishu Xinyao" Volume 25 says that on July 7 everyone basks in the sun, but only Hao Long ran into the sun to lie down, and when people asked him why, he replied, "I bask in the sun. On the one hand, this is contempt for the custom of tanning books, on the other hand, it is also boasting of the talent in his belly. Tanning the belly is also tanning the book.

The custom of sunbathing in the Han Dynasty in the Wei and Jin Dynasties created an opportunity for the rich and powerful to boast of their wealth. Ruan Xian, one of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove", despised this style. On the 7th of July, when his neighbor was drying his clothes, he saw all the silks and satins on the racks, which were glittering and glamorous. And Ruan Xian did not panic with a bamboo pole to pick up a worn-out clothes, someone asked him what he was doing, he said: "not immune to the custom, chatting back to the ear!"

By these few short stories, it seems to know how prevalent was the custom of tanning books and clothes on Tanabata.