What are the traditional customs of the Chinese Valentine’s Day? What does "fighting with cleverness" mean?
The Chinese Valentine's Day is one of my country's traditional festivals with a long history. It is a traditional festival in Chinese regions and some East Asian countries influenced by Han culture. It is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. So, what are the traditional customs of the Qixi Festival? What does "fighting with cleverness" mean? July is named the Melon Month because fruits and melons are fragrant. What are the good days in July of the lunar calendar in 2020? Let’s take a look at the special topic of July 2020 on Shuimoxiansheng.com.What are the traditional customs of the Chinese Valentine’s Day?Custom 1: Happy spiders respond to ingenuity <br /> This is an earlier way of begging for ingenuity, which began roughly during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Wang Renyu of the Five Dynasties recorded in "Kaiyuan Tianbao Yishi" that "On July 7, catch a small spider and put it in a small box. Open the box the next day. If the spider has made a web, it is a good omen.Custom 2: Throwing a needle to test your skill <br /> This is a variation of the custom of threading a needle to pray for skill on the Qixi Festival. It originated from threading a needle, but is different from threading a needle. It was a popular Qixi Festival custom during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At noon on July 7, women put needles into water and look at the shadow of the needles on the bottom of the water. The one with more complex shapes and more realistic images is more skillful. Custom 3: Celebrating the Birthday of the Cow <br /> On the Qixi Festival, children will pick wild flowers and hang them on the horns of the cow, which is also called "celebrating the birthday of the cow". 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 and ride on its hide to see the Weaver Girl so that the Cowherd could cross the Milky Way 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”. Custom 4: Worship the Weaver Girl "Worshiping the Weaver Girl" is purely a matter for young girls and young women. Most of them would make appointments with their friends or neighbors in advance to gather five or six people, or as many as ten people, to jointly organize and hold the ceremony. A table is set up under the moonlight, and offerings such as tea, wine, fruits, longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds, etc. are placed on the table; there are also a few flowers, tied with red paper and inserted in a vase, and a small incense burner is placed in front of the flowers. After burning incense and praying in front of the table, everyone sat around the table, eating peanuts and melon seeds, looking at the Vega constellation, silently reciting their own thoughts, and played until midnight before dispersing. Custom 5: Worship Kuixing <br /> It is said that July 7th is the birthday of Kuixing. Kuixing is the god of literature, and scholars who want to achieve fame and success particularly venerate Kuixing, so they must worship him on the Qixi Festival, praying for his blessing for good luck in the exam. Custom 6: Women Washing Hair <br /> People believe that taking spring water or river water on the Qixi Festival is like taking water from the Milky Way, which has the sacred power of cleansing. Therefore, it has special meaning for women to wash their hair on this day, which means that by washing their hair with holy water from the Milky Way, they will definitely receive the blessing of the Goddess of Weaving. What does "fighting with cleverness" mean?Fighting in ingenuity is a competitive folk cultural activity of the Han nationality during the Chinese Valentine's Day. The girls competed in threading the needle, steaming qiaobeibei, baking qiaoguozi, making qiaoya soup, and making decorations with dough modeling, paper cutting, and colorful embroidery. Whoever has good craftsmanship must be skillful. Before the Chinese Valentine's Day, colored paper, straw, string, etc. are prepared in advance and woven into all kinds of ingenious little toys. After the activity begins, people hold the colored thread in their hands and pass the thread through the needle holes facing the light. Those who can pass the thread through seven needle holes in one breath are considered to be successful and are called skillful hands. Those who cannot pass the thread through seven needle holes are called losers. Douqiao embodies the Han working people's simple aesthetic taste and pursuit of a better life.Local customs1. Zhejiang <br /> Similar customs of begging for skills are still practiced in various parts of Zhejiang today. In places like Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places, various small objects are made with flour on this day, fried in oil and called "Qiaoguo". Qiaoguo, lotus pods, white lotus roots, red water chestnuts and other objects are displayed in the courtyard at night. Girls thread needles facing the moon in the hope that the Weaver Girl will grant them skills, or they catch a spider and put it in a box. If the spider has made a web when the box is opened the next day, it is considered a blessing.In the countryside of Shaoxing, many young girls would hide secretly under the sheds of lush pumpkins on this night. If they could hear the whispers of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl when they met in the dead of night, the girl who was about to get married would be able to obtain this everlasting love for a thousand years. In order to express people's wish that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can live a happy family life every day, in Jinhua, Zhejiang, every family kills a chicken on July 7th, meaning that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet on this night, and if there is no rooster to announce the dawn, they will never be separated. 2. Guangxi <br /> In western Guangxi, it is said that on the morning of July 7, fairies will come down to earth to take a bath. Drinking their bath water can ward off evil spirits, cure diseases and prolong life. This water is called "Shuangqi Water". When the cockcrows on this day, people rush to the river to fetch water. After getting it back, they put it in new jars for future use. 3. Guangzhou <br /> Guangzhou's Qiqiao Festival is unique. Before the festival arrives, the girls prepare various ingenious little toys with colored paper, grass, and strings. They also put grain seeds and mung beans in a small box and soak them in water to make them germinate. When the sprouts grow to more than two inches long, they are used to worship gods, which are called "worshiping immortal grains" and "worshiping vegetables". From the evening of the sixth to the evening of the seventh, for two consecutive nights, the girls put on new clothes and new jewelry. After everything is arranged, they burn incense and light candles, kneel down and worship the starry sky, which is called "welcoming the immortals". They have to worship seven times from the third to the fifth watch. After worshipping the immortals, the girls held colored threads in their hands and threaded the threads through the needle holes facing the light. Those who could thread the threads through seven needle holes in one breath were called "De Qiao" and were known as "qiaoshou". Those who could not thread the threads through seven needle holes were called "Shu Qiao". After the Chinese Valentine's Day, girls will give each other the small handicrafts and toys they made as a token of friendship. 4. Fujian <br /> In Fujian, people let the Weaver Girl appreciate and taste fruits during the Qixi Festival in order to ask her to bless them with a good harvest in the coming year. The offerings include tea, wine, fresh fruits, five kinds of seeds (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds), fresh flowers, pollen used by women for makeup, and an incense burner. Generally, after fasting and bathing, everyone takes turns to burn incense and worship in front of the altar, praying silently. Women not only beg for dexterity, but also beg for children, longevity, beauty and love. Afterwards, everyone ate fruit, drank tea and chatted while playing the Qiqiao game. There are two types of Qiqiao games: one is "Buqiao", which is to use divination tools to ask yourself whether you are clever or stupid; the other is a competition of cleverness, that is, whoever threads the needle faster is the winner, and the slowest is called the "loser". The "loser" has to give a small gift prepared in advance to the winner. Some regions also organize "Seven Sisters Associations". The "Seven Sisters Associations" from various regions gather at clan associations and set up various colorful incense tables to offer remote sacrifices to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The "incense tables" are all made of paper and are filled with flowers, fruits, rouge, small paper flower clothes, shoes, daily necessities, embroidery, etc. The "Seven Sisters Associations" in different regions would put a lot of effort into the incense tables, competing to see who made the most exquisite one. Today, such activities have been forgotten, and only a very small number of clan associations still set up incense tables to worship the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl during this festival. The incense table is usually prepared on the seventh day of the seventh month, and people start begging for skills from the Weaver Girl in the evening. |
>>: Is August 26, 2020 a suitable date for opening a new store? Is this an auspicious day?
Recommend
Is it suitable to travel during the Cold Dew solar term on August 22, 2020?
Is it suitable to travel during the Cold Dew solar...
What is the fate of a girl born on the eighth day of the second lunar month in 2021? Okay?
The fate of a girl is related to the time of her b...
Is it a good idea to go to Tiananmen Square in Beijing during the National Day in 2019? When is the cheapest time to buy air tickets during the National Day?
Introduction: Many people will choose to travel du...
What is the lunar calendar for the first day of the eleventh month in 2021? What time is auspicious or inauspicious?
The eleventh month of the lunar calendar is here, ...
Is the fourth day of the eleventh lunar month in 2019 a good day for offering sacrifices to ancestors?
The eleventh month of the lunar calendar is the se...
Can I move into my new home on August 28th of the lunar calendar in 2018?
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, August i...
Check the auspicious and inauspicious times on the 17th hour of December in the lunar calendar 2019! The Zi hour is the time for sleep
Each hour has corresponding taboos, auspiciousnes...
How is the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2017? Which direction is the auspicious position for the God of Wealth during the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Introduction: There are many contents related to g...
What zodiac sign is December 19th of the lunar calendar in 2019? What is the zodiac fortune of people born on this day?
What zodiac sign is December 19th of the lunar cal...
Is the Rain Water solar term in 2019 suitable for opening a business? What should you eat to maintain your health during the Rain Water solar term?
Introduction: Rainwater is an important solar term...
February 3, 2020·What is the attribute of the tenth day of the first lunar month? Is it an auspicious day?
The tenth day of the first lunar month is the &quo...
Is the fate of a baby girl born on February 23, 2019 in the lunar calendar good or bad?
Is the fate of a baby girl born on February 23, 20...
Is it a good idea to pick up the car on the second day of the third lunar month in 2018?
The third month of the lunar calendar is the last...
What day is March 24th in the lunar calendar 2019? What month and date is it?
For more details about the 2019 lunar calendar fo...
Is it not advisable to travel the day before Cold Dew in 2020? What is the meaning and harm of Cold Dew wind!
Introduction: It is necessary to choose an auspici...