Stories and legends of Valentine's Day in China.

Every year, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a romantic festival in our traditional festivals-China Valentine's Day. How much do you know about this festival? Do you know the story of Valentine's Day in China? The following is the story and legend of Tanabata I brought to you _ What are the traditional customs of Tanabata for your reference? Let's have a look!

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★ Stories and legends of Valentine's Day in China ★

★ The traditional custom of Valentine's Day in China ★

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▼ Stories and legends of Tanabata

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Cowherd and Vega is a famous folk love story in ancient China, which comes from the star names of Cowherd and Vega. There are many versions, mainly telling the story that the orphan cowherd lives by his aunt. Sister-in-law is very mean and often abuses him. He was forced to leave his family and live on an old cow.

This old cow is very psychic. One day, the weaver girl and the fairies took a bath together in the river. The old cow advised the cowherd to meet him and told him that if the fairies didn't come back before dawn, he would have to stay on earth. So the cowherd stayed by the river to see the seven fairies. He found that the youngest fairy among them was very beautiful and full of love.

Thinking of the old cow, the cowherd quietly took the little fairy's clothes, and the little fairies took a bath and prepared to return to heaven. The little fairy found that the clothes were gone and had to stay, so the cowherd met the little weaver girl. Later, they got along well and understood their difficulties. The Weaver Girl became the wife of the Cowherd.

After marriage, they farm and weave, have a son and a daughter, and live a very happy life. Unexpectedly, the Emperor of Heaven discovered this matter and ordered the Queen Mother to escort the Weaver Girl back to heaven for trial. The old cow couldn't bear to see their wife and children separated, so she touched the horn on her head and turned it into a boat for the cowherd to chase with her children. On the verge of catching up with Weaver Girl, the Queen Mother suddenly tore off the golden hairpin on her head and drew a rolling galaxy in the sky.

Cowherd can't cross the river, so he can only look at the river and cry with Weaver Girl. Their faithful love touched magpies, and countless magpies flew in and built a colorful bridge on the Tianhe River with their bodies, so that the cowherd and the Weaver Girl could meet on the Tianhe River. The Emperor of Heaven had no choice but to allow the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to meet at the Magpie Bridge once a year on July 7th, and the magpies would be around. Cowherd and Weaver Girl will meet on July 7th every year.

(2)

According to legend, Cowherd's parents died young and were often abused by his elder sister-in-law, only accompanied by an old cow. One day, the old cow gave him a plan to marry the weaver girl. On that day, the beautiful fairies did bathe in the Milky Way and play in the water. Then the cowherd, hiding in the reeds, suddenly ran out and took the clothes of the Weaver Girl. The panicked fairies hurried ashore, dressed and flew away, leaving only the weaver girl. At Cowherd's request, Weaver Girl agreed to be his wife. After marriage, the cowherd and the weaver girl loved each other and lived a very happy life. Weaver gave birth to a son and a daughter to Cowherd. Later, the old cow was dying. He told the cowherd to keep its skin and put it on for help when he was in trouble. After the old cow died, the couple reluctantly peeled off the cowhide and buried the cow on the hillside.

When the marriage between the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd was known by the Jade Emperor and the Heavenly Queen Mother, they flew into a rage and ordered the gods to take the Weaver Girl back. When the Cowherd was away, the gods took the Weaver Girl. Cowherd didn't see Weaver when he came home, so he quickly put on cowhide and chased after him with two children. On the verge of catching up, the queen mother was in a hurry, tore off the golden hairpin on her head and rowed to the Milky Way. The once shallow Milky Way suddenly became stormy, and the Cowherd couldn't go any further. Since then, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can only look at each other across the river with tears, forever and ever, and the Jade Emperor and the Empress Dowager can't resist their sincere feelings, allowing them to meet once every July 7th. According to legend, on the seventh day of July, human magpies will fly to the sky to build a magpie bridge for the cowherd and weaver girl in the Milky Way. In addition, in the dead of night on Tanabata, people can also hear the love story of cowherd and weaver girl in the sky under the grape trellis or other fruit trellis.

(3)

One day, Erxiao took the dog to herd cattle. When he arrived in the field, he patted the cow on the back and said, "Whoa, whoa, I'm going to sleep. Don't run around." The old ox seemed to understand people's words, lowered his hair and let out a few "moo, moo" cries, swinging his tail and eating the draft around him. The second pupil fell asleep lying on the grass.

Missed noon, my sister-in-law brought a jar to deliver food to her brother-in-law. When she saw the second pupil sleeping, she gave him a good kick. The second child woke up and saw that it was a sister-in-law. He quickly got up and stood on the ground like a chicken. Sister-in-law put the rice jar on the ground and said angrily, "Don't worry, sleep with the cow, and I'll settle accounts with you if the cow is lost!" " Say that finish, she twisted her ass and left.

The second child's stomach is hungry. He just picked up the jar and was about to eat it. The big cow around him hit the jar and it broke into pieces. When the big black dog saw the rice on the ground, it opened its mouth and ate it. Soon, he licked the rice on the ground

The second child is scared when he looks at the broken jar and feels that it is not good to go home. He sighed; "Oh, how can I be so miserable!"

As soon as the second child sighed, the big black dog fell to the ground with a plop, bleeding from his nose and mouth, and soon died. Only then did he realize that his sister-in-law had poisoned the rice.

Second thought: It seems that I can't live with this pest, or I will suffer sooner or later. When the sun was about to set in the western hills, he drove the cows home. As soon as I entered the yard, I turned my head and saw my brother coming back from the outside. My second child's heart is sour and his eyes are crying. Seeing my brother so sad, my brother doesn't know what happened at home. He asked, "Why are you so sad?" "I broke the rice jar sent by my sister-in-law. The dog ate the rice on the ground and died." Hearing this, my brother understood _, fighting can't compete with women at home, for the sake of difficulty.

The second child cried and said, "Brother, let's separate." It made my brother see that he wanted to split up. For one thing, his brother is still young, and for another, he has gone out to do business. It's impossible without help at home. If we make do together, I'm afraid something will happen to my brother.

Seeing that his brother was in a hurry, Erxiao said, "Brother, I don't want anything at home, just that cow." The two brothers said in the yard that they were separated, and the daughter-in-law was really happy when she heard it. She grabbed the door frame and said to her husband, "Let's live our own lives in the future. I took the lead in following my second brother! " "

My brother had tears in his eyes and couldn't say a word.

The next day, the second primary school drove away with an ox cart. Walking around, getting farther and farther. Second thought: How long will it take to go on like this? Let's live here! He stopped the ox cart, cut off many branches and built a shed on the hillside. The shed was set up, and the cow and I settled here.

That cow is the lower bound of Taurus in the sky. It followed the second primary school for more than a year and died that night. After the cow died, he gave the second boy three dreams in succession. In the dream, he said to the second novel, "Tomorrow at 3: 30, I will go back to heaven. After I leave, you peel off my skin and put it on you on July 7 to ensure that you can go to heaven. The Queen Mother has seven daughters. They went to Tianhe to take a bath that day. Remember that the fairy in green is your wife. You can't let them see you. When they are all in the water, you run back in your clothes and she will chase you. She won't leave as long as you go home. "

The next day, Erxiao saw that the cow was dead. He didn't eat or drink, but cried when he touched it. Later, the cowhide was peeled off, leaving the cowhide to bury the cow. He knelt in front of the cow grave and cried.

On July 7th, Erxiao put on cowhide and immediately floated off the ground to the bank of Tianhe River. He waited quietly in the Woods. After a while, the seven fairies of the Queen Mother came. They took off their clothes one by one and plopped into the water. Take a good look at the green skirt, run over, grab it and run. The third fairy saw someone holding her clothes and jumped out of the water to run after her. Follow the slow pace and catch up with the second house. The third fairy asked the second child why she took her clothes, and the second novel wanted her to be his wife. The third fairy repeatedly said that heaven forbid, and the second fairy repeatedly said that the world is better than heaven. The third fairy was very moved when she saw that the second primary school was good-looking, so she agreed to him. After that, the third fairy came down to earth. She plays with flowers at home every day, and people call her Weaver Girl. The second primary school goes out to sell cloth every day to earn money. The young couple live a comfortable life.

After three or five years, the three fairies and two pupils gave birth to a man and a woman. One day, the second primary school went to work in the field, and a heavenly drum sounded in the sky. The Jade Emperor sent heavenly soldiers to take the Weaver Girl away. When the second child came home, he saw two children crying. I don't know where my daughter-in-law is, and I'm in a rash. When I asked the child, the older child pointed in the air with his hand, and the second thought the Weaver Girl had left. He quickly picked up two children and put on cowhide to catch the weaver girl.

The second boy was impatient and ran after him. Seeing that he was about to catch up with the Weaver Girl, he annoyed the Queen Mother: "Well done, second boy, are you going to catch up with the Lingxiao Hall?" She unplugged the silver tube from the beginning, drew a line between the second primary school and the Weaver Girl, and immediately drew a Tianhe. The second primary school couldn't cross the river, so it stamped its feet, and the two children in the basket called Niang. The Weaver Girl and the Second Primary School are crying. It's no use crying. The second boy wanted to leave a message for the Weaver Girl, so he took out the cow button and threw it at the Weaver Girl, and the Weaver Girl held it in her hand. The weaver girl thought about it, but there was nothing to send. She took out her loom and threw it by the second. The weaver girl's hand is weak, so she throws the woven fabric askew.

Until now, Vega on one side of Tianhe has a button star in her arms, and there is a shuttle star next to Altair on the other side.

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▼ Traditional customs of Valentine's Day in China

Needle throwing and skill test

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. Dong and Yu Yizheng's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" said: "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. "

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. "The Chronicle of Jingchu" said: "It is the evening, and Chen Guaguo is begging 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. " Small spider webs, the methods of testing cleverness in past dynasties are also slightly 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.

acupuncture

It can be said that embroidery originated from the love, marriage and fertility culture of Qixi, and then developed into the most important popular entertainment activity of Valentine's Day in China. The custom of begging for cleverness is flourishing day by day, and many "schools" have developed.

This is the earliest way to beg for cleverness, which began in the Han Dynasty and flowed to later generations. It was first recorded in Gehong's Miscellanies of Xijing in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: "Women in the Han Dynasty often put on seven-hole needles in Jinkailou on July 7, and people have the ambition of Xi." The Chronicle of Jingchu's Age says: "The seventh day of July is the night when Petunia and Weaver Girl get together. It is the night when family and women tie the knot and wear a seven-hole needle. "

Ye Lan Douqiao

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: "Every year on the seventh day of July, the Han Palace plays the first, and then binds it with five-color stocks, which is called' mutual affection'."

"So, palace GongE gorgeous women, together to the row of buttons upstairs, everyone learn to wear seven stitches. 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' Dou Qiao'. "

Seed search

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, which is called "metaplasia".

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▼ Customs before and after Tanabata

Jiaxing, Zhejiang-Qixi Xiangqiao Expo

In Gudoujing Village, Tang Hui Town, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, there is a Qixi Xiangqiao Club. 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.

Hunan and Zhejiang-women wash their hair and collect dew.

It is also a special custom for women to wash their hair on Tanabata. It is recorded in Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. For example, in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, "Records of Youxian County": "On July 7, women picked peach branches with cypress leaves and soaked them in soup." It is believed that taking spring water and river water on Tanabata Day is as sacred as taking water from the Milky Way. Some places directly call it "the holy water of Tiansun (Weaver Girl)". Therefore, it is of special significance for women to wash their hair on this day, which means that with the holy water of the Milky Way, they will be protected by the goddess Vega. It is also popular to catch dew with a washbasin. Legend has it that the dew on Tanabata is the tears when cowherd and weaver girl meet. If you put it in your eyes and hands, it can make people agile.

Jiaodong-Worship Seven Sisters

In Jiaodong area, more people worship Seven Sisters on Tanabata. Young women put on new clothes, got together, married Seven Sisters in the court, and sang a song: "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.

Southwest China-nail dyeing

Nail dyeing is the custom of Qixi Festival, which is popular in southwest China. It is also popular in many county records in Sichuan Province, as well as in Guizhou and Guangdong. Young girls in many areas like to wash their hair with the sap of trees during festivals. It is said that not only young and beautiful, but also unmarried women can find the right husband as soon as possible. Dyeing nails with flowers and plants is also a hobby of most women and children in holiday entertainment, and it is also closely related to reproductive beliefs.

Guangzhou-welcome immortals

Guangzhou's begging festival is unique. Before the festival comes, the girls prepare colored paper, medulla tetrapanacis, string, etc. in advance and weave them into various fancy gadgets. They also put seeds and mung beans in a small box and soaked them in water to germinate them. Buds grow to more than two inches and are used to worship the gods, which are called "worshipping the immortals" and "worshipping the gods". From the sixth night to the seventh night, the girls put on new clothes and jewelry for two nights in a row. After all the arrangements are made, they burn incense and light candles and bow down to the stars, which is called "welcoming the immortals". From the third night to the fifth watch, they will worship seven times in a row. After worshipping the immortals, the girls passed through the pinholes with colored threads in their hands. For example, those who can wear seven pinholes in one breath are called skillful hands, and those who can't wear seven pinholes are called skillful hands. After Tanabata, the girls exchanged small crafts and toys to show their friendship.

Shaanxi-ligating ancient bridge

In the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, it is also a custom to hold various begging activities on Tanabata night. Women often have to tie up grass people in flowered clothes, which is called the ancient bridge. They should not only provide melons and fruits, but also plant bean sprouts and shallots. On the night of Qixi, all the women held a bowl of water in their hands, cut bean sprouts and shallots, put them into the water, and used the shadow of the moon to predict the fate of cleverness. They also wear needles and thread to compete. At the same time, there will be activities to cut window grilles.

Guangxi-Tanabata Water Storage

There is a custom of storing water on Tanabata in some areas of Guangxi. It is believed that soaking in water at this time can eliminate disasters and diseases. Sick children often tie a red rope into seven knots on this day and wear it around their necks to pray for health and good luck.

Shandong —— Grow smart vegetables into smart flowers.

There are two activities in Rongcheng, Shandong. One is "clever dishes", that is, young girls cultivate malt in wine glasses, and the other is "Qiao Hua", where young girls use flour to shape various foods with flowers.

Shaoxing-Listen to the whispers under the pumpkin shed.

In the countryside of Shaoxing, there will be many young girls hiding under the leafy pumpkin shed. If we can hear the whisper of the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in the dead of night, the girl to be married will definitely get this eternal love in the future.

Fujian Xianyou-Fried Soybean and Peanut with White Sugar

In Xianyou, every household will make fried beans on this day. The materials are white sugar, soybeans and raw peanuts. Soybeans should be soaked one day in advance, then fried in a pot for half-cooked, and picked up for use the next day. Peanuts should also be picked up and put in the pot, and then white sugar should be poured into the pot to cook. When saccharifying, soybeans and peanuts should be poured into the pot to cook together. This custom has lasted for a long time.

Minnan, Taiwan Province Province-Worship Seven Mothers

Minnan dialect and Tanabata in Taiwan Province Province are the birthdays of "Qi Niang". It is very popular among the people to worship the Year of Qima, which is considered as a symbol of protecting children's safety and health. According to the textual research of Minnan People, Minnan people have crossed the Taiwan Strait to Taiwan Province Province or other foreign countries to make a living, but most of them have not returned for many years. Women have to pin all their hopes on their children. Only with hope can they have the courage to live.

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