Is Valentine's Day in China a traditional festival in China?

Valentine's Day in China is a traditional festival, also known as Begging for Clevership Festival, Seven Clever Days or Seven Sisters's Birthday, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. According to legend, it is the day when cowherd and weaver girl meet, which is also called "Valentine's Day" in China. Tanabata is a non-cultural and historical heritage of China and a traditional festival with special significance.

The legend of Tanabata Festival

Legend of Valentine's Day in China 1: Begging Qiaojie Festival

This is the legend of Lushan Mountain in Henan Province. It is said that Cowherd hid in Lushan Mountain after his death, and all his backup descendants lived in Lushan Mountain. There are two customs in Lushan Mountain. One is that every household raises cattle, but the custom of raising cattle without killing them and burying them after death has a long history. This is a respect for the ancestors cowherd and ox. The other is the Skills Begging Festival. Every year from the first day of July to the evening of the seventh day of July in the lunar calendar, girls in new clothes will beg the weaver girl to give them skilled skills in the yard, which is called "asking for skills".

Legend of Valentine's Day in China 2: The Legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl

According to legend, the Weaver Girl is the granddaughter of the Queen Mother. She is ingenious and good at weaving, and can weave colorful clouds with a pair of dexterous hands. Cowherd is an orphan. He is hardworking but poor, and keeps company with the old cow.

Once, under the guidance of the old cow, the cowherd took away the clothes of the Weaver Girl who was taking a bath in the lake. The Weaver Girl also loved the Cowherd, and they became husband and wife. From then on, men plowed and women wove, gave birth to a son and a daughter, and lived a happy life.

However, when the Queen Mother knew this, she flew into a rage and sent heavenly soldiers to take the Weaver Girl back to the Heavenly Palace. With the help of the old cow, the cowherd carried a laundry list of children and chased them to the sky. When the Queen Mother saw the Cowherd coming, she drew a big river between the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd wearing a golden hairpin. This is the Milky Way.

The Milky Way ruthlessly separates the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and they can only cry across the river. When the Queen Mother saw that they were crying, she was moved with compassion and ordered the magpie to send a message to let them meet every seven days. Who knows that the magpie was wrong and agreed to meet once a year on July 7. So, the Queen Mother punished Magpie because Magpie matched the bridge.

On the night of July in the lunar calendar, looking up at the starry night sky, people can see two bright stars on both sides of the Milky Way-Altair and Vega.

The love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is integrated into the Begging Festival, and all the folk girls believe it. So every seventh day of the seventh lunar month, when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the "Queqiao Bridge", the girls will come to the flowers and look up at the starry sky, looking for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see their annual meeting, praying to God that they will be as ingenious as the Weaver Girl, and that in time, they will have a satisfactory and happy marriage.

Qixi Festival

Another name for Valentine's Day in China.

Double seven: The sun, the moon and the sun are all seven, so it is called seven. Xiangri: According to legend, the cowherd and the weaver girl meet on Tanabata, and the weaver girl should dress up, paint and even smell the fragrance 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.

Qixi Festival

What to eat on Tanabata?

1, eat 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.

Step 2 eat 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".

Step 3 eat a clever meal

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. After begging for clever activities, they got together.