Which is Valentine's Day in China, Lantern Festival or Chinese Valentine's Day?

Lantern Festival and Qixi Festival are both Valentine's Days in China. Most people think that the "Chinese Valentine's Day" when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet is China's Valentine's Day. A few people say that the Lantern Festival is actually the day when ancient lovers meet.

★ Lantern Festival: carrying lanterns, solving riddles on lanterns and eating Yuanxiao, which was originally a very important Lantern Festival in China's traditional folk customs, now has a new expression-"China Valentine's Day".

◎ The fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The custom of meeting the right person in the ancient Lantern Festival.

◎ Features: Visit and eat Yuanxiao.

In China, the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month is called Valentine's Day. This title has a long history. Lantern Festival is the most interesting festival for ancient women. In ancient times, ordinary women, especially those with a good family or a small family, were "three steps away from the boudoir." Only on the Lantern Festival can they go out to watch the lights at night and even have a tryst with their boyfriends. Therefore, Lantern Festival is a folk festival symbolizing love. In the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu wrote a poem "A Birth Test": "Last year's Lantern Festival, the flower market was full of lights. The willow shoots are on the moon, and people are about after dusk. " The words describing the lovers meeting at midnight snack have become eternal swan songs, vividly showing the scene of ancient lovers dating at the Lantern Festival. The western sky is full of brocade, the lights are brightly lit, and couples meet for the festival. As for whether to hold a rose for the date or give the other person a poem, it is not clear.

Lantern Festival began in Han Dynasty and flourished in Tang Dynasty. Turning to the poems and songs of China literati for more than 1000 years, there are many scenes describing lovers' tryst on Lantern Festival night. For example, Xin Qiji's "Looking in the crowd, suddenly looking back, that person is in the dim light." It has been widely read so far.

Lantern Festival is also called Lantern Festival. With the Lantern Festival, there is no shortage of Lantern Festival. Since it is Lantern Festival and Valentine's Day, it is natural to have a story about love and lights. Needless to say, the Lantern Festival is bound to become a medium of love. Among many stories about the Lantern Festival, the one that people talk about most is probably the following one. Legend has it that when Wang Anshi was 20 years old, he went to Beijing to take the exam. He passed by a place during the Lantern Festival, enjoying the lights while walking. He happened to meet a large family with lanterns hanging under the door to attract relatives. Lian Yue said: "Run with a lantern, the lantern will move, and stop when it goes out." After reading Wang Anshi, he couldn't answer at the moment, so he kept it in mind silently. When you arrived in Beijing, you said it was a coincidence that the test question happened to be: "Flying Tiger Flag, Flag Flying Tiger, Flag Rolling Tiger Hiding." Wang Anshi was wooed by his relatives and was taken as a scholar. On the way home, when Wang Anshi passed this family again, he heard that the couplet had not been opened, so he returned it with the examiner's couplet, and he was recruited as a son-in-law. A coincidence actually made Wang Anshi's two happy events-being the number one scholar and the wedding ceremony. Wang Anshi really picked up two big bargains as easy as blowing off dust. I think it's time for Wang Anshi to spend Valentine's Day with his wife every year.

In Taiwan Province Province, there is also a traditional custom that unmarried women who steal onions or vegetables at midnight will marry a good husband. Girls who want a happy marriage should steal onions or vegetables from the garden on the night of the Lantern Festival, hoping for a happy family in the future. On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, cowherd and weaver girl can meet. On the Lantern Festival, girls have the opportunity to meet boys by looking at the interface of lanterns, which brings more joy to ancient girls.

★ Valentine's Day in China: In China, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is commonly known as Tanabata, and some people call it "Beggar's Day" or "Daughter's Day", commonly known as Tanabata. This is one of the most romantic traditional festivals in China, and it is also the most important day for girls in the past. This festival originated from the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, one of the four folk love legends in China. Because it is related to love, Qixi is also called Valentine's Day in China.

◎ Features: Begging for cleverness, worshipping Seven Sisters and Xiangqiao Society.

★ Customs in various regions:

Gudoujing Village, Tang Hui Town, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province

There is the Qixi Bridge meeting. Every year on Tanabata, someone will participate and build a fragrant bridge. The so-called fragrant bridge is a bridge about four or five meters long and half a meter wide. It is made of all kinds of thick and long wrapped incense (paper wrapped incense), mounted with railings and decorated with flowers made of five-color lines. In the evening, people offered sacrifices to the Double Star, begging for good luck, and then burned Xiangqiao, symbolizing that the Double Star had crossed Xiangqiao and met happily. This fragrant bridge originated from the legendary magpie bridge legend.

Jiaodong area

Worship Seven Sisters more than Qixi. Young women put on new clothes, got together, tied the knot for Seven Sisters in the court, and sang songs: "Yellow Emperor, I invited Seven Sisters to heaven. I don't want to draw your needle, I don't want to draw your line, I want to show you 72 good means. " In many places, "Qiao Hua" has also been made. Girls use flour to make cakes, and steamed buns (or appropriate fruits) use flowers, such as peony, lotus, plum blossom, orchid and chrysanthemum. There are also clever dishes, that is, malt is cultivated with a small handleless wine cup (this is the "breeding" in the Song Dynasty), and appropriate fruits and clever dishes are used to sacrifice to the weaver girl.

Shanxi(Province)

On Qixi night, the girls will tie the straw into the shape of an "ancient bridge" more than one meter high (also called Qiao Niangniang, that is, the weaver girl), and let her put on the girl's green coat and red skirt and sit in the yard; The girl presents melons and fruits, takes out pre-planted bean sprouts and onion buds (that is, "planting", which women call clever buds), cuts a piece, puts it in a bowl of clear water, floats on the water, and looks at the shadow of the buds under the moon, so that divination is clever; However, the competition is fast and slow; Hold a window competition to compete for ingenuity.

Fujian(Province)

Women and girls set incense burners and various sacrifices for Weaver Girl: tea, wine, vase arrangement, five sons (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts and melon seeds) and powder. After worshipping the Double Star, the powder for the Weaver Girl was divided into two parts, half of which was thrown on the roof for the Weaver Girl, and the other half was dressed and beautified by herself. According to legend, the weaver girl can keep her beautiful appearance by using powder. And the decoration of Wuzi means seeking fertility. Women also drink tea, eat fruit and play chess.

Guangdong

◆ "Seven Niangs Club"

In Qu Dajun's Guangdong Newspeak, the grand occasion of the "Seven Mothers' Meeting" in the early Qing Dynasty was recorded, and many interesting customs were circulated in the Republic of China. In Qu Dajun's Guangdong Xinyu, the grand occasion of the "Seven Mothers' Meeting" in the early Qing Dynasty has been recorded, and people often call it "worshipping Seven Sisters". According to the memories of the old people who participated in the "Seven Sisters Worship" activities during the Republic of China, "Seven Sisters Worship" was particularly popular in Xiguan, Guangzhou. Activities are generally carried out among young girls and young women (men and elderly women can only watch and salute). Organize a dozen good sisters to prepare for "Seven Sisters worship" in advance. In June, some rice, wheat and mung beans will be soaked in porcelain bowls to make them germinate.

◆ Handmade products

Tanabata is getting busier as it approaches. We need to raise some money and ask our families to help us build a magpie bridge with bamboo paper and make all kinds of exquisite handicrafts. On the evening of Chinese Valentine's Day, the square table was set up in the hall, embroidered tables (table skirts) were tied, and various colorful flower and fruit products and needlework were placed to show the ingenuity of the daughters. Paper-cut safflower belt surrounds the rice seedling and bean sprout tray, and oil lamps are lit in the tray, revealing colorful tissue paper lampshades under the light, which is dazzling; There are carefully arranged flower arrangements, and flowers such as vanilla, jasmine and jasmine are inserted in copper porcelain vases; There are lotus flowers, roses, cordate telosma and camellias as big as teaspoons in the small basin. One flower really matches one fake, and it is difficult to tell the truth from the false. There are also fruit bowls that cut and stack raw fruits such as apples, peaches and persimmons into various shapes such as birds and beasts; Embroidered clothes, shoes, socks and flower clogs; Small curtains, sheets, curtains and skirts embroidered with gold and silver colored lines; Nail-sized fans and handkerchiefs; In short, the more meticulous, the more skillful, that is, pavilions made of fine wood, and small boards attached to local bean seedlings and millet seedlings. In addition, rice grains, sesame seeds, rushes and colored paper are used to make various forms of towers, tables and chairs, bottle ovens, flowers and fruits, Four Treasures of the Study and beans with various patterns and characters. There are also lanterns made of glass or colored paper, palace lanterns, pomelo peels, eggshell lanterns (carved with landscape flowers and birds) and animal-shaped lanterns. The most pleasing thing is the exquisite dolls made of colored silk by daughters, that is, dolls. The puppy has the image of a cowherd, a weaver girl and a pair of young children, usually placed on the upper floor, and a child playing the piano and dancing on the bottom floor to celebrate the meeting of the two stars. In addition, of course, cosmetics should also be placed, such as small rouge boxes, mirrors, colored combs, velvet flowers, powder cakes and so on. , for the use of weaver girls and daughters. There are wax figures, fruits, small animals and so on. In addition, there are sweet and salty snacks, tea, wine, melon seeds, peanuts and other foods. There are candlesticks, incense burners and incense sticks, which are lit with good sandalwood. It is essential.

◆ Daughters should dress up on Qixi night.

Wash your hair with Tianhe bath, then put on a brocade skirt and cheongsam, comb a bun on your head, and put flowers such as white orchids and jasminum giraldii; Then thrush, pink, crimson lips, forehead print; Dye nails with impatiens juice. After wearing this dress, the daughters descended to earth like fairies, sitting around the square table and the magpie bridge, playing all kinds of games: or entertaining themselves, singing poems in pairs, guessing riddles, worshipping with needles and begging for wisdom; Pointing to the Big Dipper in the sky (it is said that the Weaver Girl is a member of the seven-star sisters) and the double star, telling stories, poems and allusions of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl; Or invite Geji, sing Cantonese opera and play eight songs. The daughters also play Qin Xiao and other musical instruments by themselves. At this time, people can go to other people's homes to visit the table furnishings. Although there are many people, the host is happy to entertain them. Celebrate until midnight, which is an auspicious moment for the Weaver Girl to come down to earth. At this time, all the lights and candles were lit, colorful and brilliant; The girls were in high spirits, threading the needle to meet Qi Mei, and cheers were everywhere. Finally, I had a banquet and then I broke up. As Wang Lun, a poet in the Qing Dynasty (the legendary fish name), heard in "Poems on Bamboo Branches on the Qixi Festival in Yangcheng": "Embroidered jade leaves are the second, flowers are the obstacles, and jade is the platform. Qingxi's youngest daughter Lan Qiaomei has an appointment. "

Other areas

The wind on Tanabata is roughly the same as above. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, Pan Rongbi's "Ji Sheng at the Age of Jingdi": "A few days before Qixi, wheat was planted in a small earthenware, which was a cowherd and a god. It's called' Wusheng Pot'. ..... Appropriate fruits are sold in the market, people hold banquets, and children worship the Milky Way. Saltiness is skillful. " In addition, Beijing will also show watermelons and cantaloupes cut into lotus shapes, and tie colored lines on the melons and wheat seedlings, which are very beautiful. Zhi Zhu Ci of Beijing School, that is, there is a sentence of "five pots of colorful layers", which is a clever shot. In the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty, there was also the custom of offering two stars, and the ladies-in-waiting threw clever needles. In the Summer Palace, a pontoon bridge will be built on the Kunming pond, which is like a magpie bridge in the sky for the Queen Mother to play. There are banquets, acting and so on.

★ Another name for Tanabata

Double seven: this day, month and day are all seven, so it is called, also called seven.

Incense Day: It is said that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet on Tanabata, and the Weaver Girl should dress up, paint and even smell incense all over the sky, hence the name.

Week: Cowherd and Weaver Girl have special status, and they can only meet once a year, so this day is called week.

Qiaoxi: It is called Qiaoxi because there is a custom of pleasing on Qixi.

Women's Day: Valentine's Day in China is called Women's Day, also called Girls' Day and Girls' Day, because girls worship immortals and strive for cleverness.

Blue Night: The seventh month of the lunar calendar was called "blue moon" in ancient times, so Tanabata is also called "blue night".

Children's Day: It's called because the customs such as being clever and begging for books are mostly done by girls and boys.

Needle-piercing Festival: It is named after the custom of needle-piercing on this day.