What are the customs of the Chinese Valentine's Day? The legend about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl!
Introduction: Different festivals have different customs, and the Qixi Festival is no exception. So what are the customs of the Chinese Valentine's Day? What is the legend about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl? "Er Ya Shi Tian" says: "The seventh month is Xiang, and the eighth month is Zhuang." Therefore, the seventh month of the lunar calendar is also called "Xiang Yue". You can also learn more about the seventh month of the lunar calendar in 2020 on Shuimoxiansheng.com!What are the customs of the Chinese Valentine’s Day?Qixi Festival customs: begging for marriageOn clear summer and autumn nights, the sky is full of shining stars, and a Milky Way runs across the north and south. On the east and west banks of the Milky Way, there is a shining star on each side, facing each other across the river. They are Altair and Vega. The star Wunu later evolved into a goddess in mythology, and was called Seventh Sister, Heavenly Fairy, and Seventh Mother by the people. She is the patron saint of weaving clouds, lovers, women, and children. Countless lovers in the world will look up to the starry sky and pray to the Weaver Girl on the night of Chinese Valentine's Day for a happy marriage. Qixi Festival customs: visiting Qijie Water According to folklore, on the Chinese Valentine's Day, seven fairies from the sky will come down to earth to bathe in the river. At this time, the river water is imbued with fairy spirit, and people bathing in it will not only bring luck in love but also prevent disease. People in Baise, Jingxi and other places in Guangxi believe that the water on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is very holy and clean. The water on the Chinese Valentine's Day can not only drive away evil spirits and avoid diseases, but also make their love life perfect and their life happy. This custom is related to the local legend of seven fairies coming down to earth to take a bath. Qixi customs: planting seeds to pray for a child "Planting seeds to pray for a child" is an old custom. A few days before the Chinese Valentine's Day, a layer of soil is first placed on a small wooden board, and corn seeds are sown to grow into green shoots. Or you can soak mung beans, adzuki beans, wheat, etc. in a porcelain bowl, wait for them to grow inch-long sprouts, and then tie them into a bundle with red or blue silk ropes. This is called "seeding", and is used to pray for children. It is also called "Pao Qiao" in various parts of the south. The grown bean sprouts are called Qiao Ya, and people even use Qiao Ya to replace needles and throw them on the water to pray for cleverness. Various images are also sculpted out of wax, 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, and placed on the water to float, which is called "floating on water." There were also wax baby dolls that women would buy and place them in water and soil to float them home, believing that this would bring good luck in having a child, a practice called "transformation." Qixi customs: storing Qixi water "Qixi Water" is also known as "July Seventh Water". It is said that "Qixi Water" has magical functions. It can remain unchanged for a long time and can treat burns, remove sores, etc. In Guangdong and Guangxi, there is a custom of storing "Qixi water". That is, after the first cockcrow on the morning of the seventh day, each family goes to the well or river to draw water and store it. According to folklore, on the morning of July 7, fairies will come down to earth to take a bath, and the bath water can ward off evil spirits, cure diseases and prolong life. Therefore, people go to the river to fetch water in the morning of the Qixi Festival, and then collect it in new jars for future use. It is said that on the night of Chinese Valentine's Day, washing your face with seven-color floral water made from seven kinds of flowers, such as Milan, jasmine, and rose, can make a woman more beautiful. Qixi Festival customs: celebrating the birthday of the ox In the old days, children would pick wild flowers and hang them on the horns of cows on the Chinese Valentine's Day, which was also called "celebrating the cow's birthday." According to legend, after the Queen Mother of the West separated the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl with the Milky Way, the old cow asked the Cowherd to peel off its skin so that the Cowherd could cross the Milky Way to see the Weaver Girl, so the old cow could ride on its skin to see the Weaver Girl. In order to commemorate the old cow’s sacrificial spirit, people have the custom of “celebrating the cow’s birthday”. The legendary story about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl!The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl first originated from the Book of Songs, Xiaoya Dadong: "That weaver girl weaves seven times a day. Although she weaves seven times, she cannot make a newspaper. That cowherd leads the cowherd, but he cannot make a box."It means that the three stars of Vega are like two legs apart, moving seven times a day, but even so, they cannot weave cloth into patterns; and the bright Altair cannot be used to drive a car. The "Book of Celestial Officials" in the "Records of the Grand Historian" describes the movement of celestial bodies, with the sentences "To the north is Hegu, the big star Hegu, the upper general; to the left and right, the left and right generals" and "To the north is Zhinu, Zhinu, the granddaughter of heaven." Hegu is Altair, the big star in the middle and two small stars on the left and right. This is the prototype of the Cowherd and his pair of children. Vega, also known as Tiansun, is the origin of the myth that Vega is the seventh granddaughter of the Emperor of Heaven. Towards the end of the Han Dynasty, "Nineteen Ancient Poems" wrote: "The distant Altair, the bright Vega. She stretches out her slender white hands, and weeps busily on the loom. All day long, she cannot finish a poem, and her tears fall like rain. The Milky Way is clear and shallow, how far apart are they? Across the water, they are speechless with love." For example, in Cao Pi's "Yan Ge Xing" it says "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl look at each other from afar, why are you alone confined to the river bridge?" The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd were already regarded as a pair of lovers. Therefore, the Qin and Han dynasties should be the early stage in the formation of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl story. The "Qin bamboo slips" unearthed in the Shuihu area of Yunmeng, Hubei Province, recorded that "Cowherd tried to marry Weaver Girl but failed." The plot of the "Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" story was roughly outlined in Yin Yun's "Novel" during the Southern Liang Dynasty. There were many similar records at that time, such as Zong Yan's "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji", Wu Jun's "Xu Qixie Ji" and Zhou Chu's "Fengtu Ji", all of which contained the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting on the Qixi Festival. The two stories of "Tian Kunlun" in "Soushen Ji" discovered in the Dunhuang Grottoes in the early 20th century and "Guo Han" in "Taiping Guangji" in the early Song Dynasty had a greater influence on the completion of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl story in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The story of "Tian Kunlun" says that Tian Kunlun was a poor man. One day he saw three fairies bathing in the river, so he stole one of their clothes. As a result, the two older fairies each held their clothes and flew away with the wind. Only the youngest fairy did not dare to come out of the water and later married Tian Kunlun. They had a son, Tian Zhang. Later, the celestial maiden returned to heaven, and the story of her son Tian Zhang looking for his mother appeared again. The story of "Guo Han" is similar. However, Guo Han was a scholar with "beautiful appearance, good conversation, and skilled in cursive and official scripts". It was said that one day when he was watching the moon in the courtyard, he suddenly saw the Weaver Girl descending to the earth. As a result, they fell in love and secretly got engaged. From then on, the Weaver Girl traveled between heaven and earth every night. One day, the Weaver Girl suddenly said to Guo Han: When the Emperor of Heaven knew about this, he ordered me not to come again. We parted forever. Guo Han became ill due to grief. When the Weaver Girl in heaven found out, she sent a maid down to earth to present two poems, one of which said, "The lovers are gone, when will we meet again?" This account can be said to be a literary version of the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Later, every year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet on the Magpie Bridge, the girls would come out under the moon and look up at the starry sky, looking for the Altair and the Weaver Girl on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see their annual meeting, begging God to make them as dexterous as the Weaver Girl, and praying that they would have a happy and satisfying marriage. This is how the Chinese Valentine's Day was formed. The eight characters can be used to calculate when your marriage will begin and the depth of your past life love in this life. Please click on the "Excellent Calculation" below to make predictions in advance. I wish you find your soulmate soon! |
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