When is Chinese Valentine’s Day this year? What are the customs of Qixi Festival?
Time flies, and before we know it, it is autumn. China has also ushered in the special festival, Chinese Valentine's Day. Like other traditional festivals, Chinese Valentine's Day also has its own unique customs. So when is Chinese Valentine's Day this year? What are the customs of Qixi Festival? Let’s follow the editor to find out more. Many people ask, what day is the Chinese Valentine's Day? Mr. Shui Mo tells you that the Chinese Valentine's Day is on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar every year. This day is called the Chinese Valentine's Day.When is Chinese Valentine’s Day this year?The Chinese Valentine’s Day in 2017 is on August 28, 2017, the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, which is a Monday.Qixi Festival, originally known as the Qiqiao Festival. The Qixi Festival, a festival for begging for cleverness, originated in the Han Dynasty. In the Western Capital Miscellaneous Records by Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there is a record that "beautiful women of the Han Dynasty used to thread seven-hole needles in the open-collared tower on July 7th, and everyone was accustomed to it." This is the earliest record of begging for cleverness that we have seen in ancient documents. What are the customs of Qixi Festival?1. Threading a needle to pray for dexterity This is the earliest way of praying for dexterity, which started in the Han Dynasty and spread to later generations. "Xijing Miscellaneous Records" says: "Han Dynasty women often threaded seven-hole needles in Kaijinlou on July 7th, and everyone was accustomed to it." Liang Zongmou of the Southern Dynasty said in "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji": "On July 7th, women in families built a colorful tower and pierced seven holes, or used gold, silver and stone as needles." "Yu Di Zhi" says: "Emperor Wu of Qi built a layered city pavilion. On July 7th, many palace ladies went up there to thread needles. People called it the Needle Threading Tower.2. Drying books and clothes 3. According to the old custom of planting seeds to pray for children, a few days before the Chinese Valentine's Day, a layer of soil is first applied on a small wooden board, and corn seeds are sown to grow into green seedlings. Some small huts, flowers and trees are then placed on it to make it look like a small village of farmers, which is called "shell board". Or mung beans, red beans, wheat, etc. are soaked in a porcelain bowl, and when inch-long sprouts are grown, they are tied into a bundle with red or blue silk ropes. This is called "planting seeds", also known as "five-birth pot" or "birth flower pot". 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 vultures, mandarin ducks, and other animals, 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." 4. The spider prays for cleverness. This is also an earlier way of begging for cleverness. Its custom is slightly later than threading a needle to pray for cleverness, and it originated roughly in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The Southern Dynasty Liang Zongyan's "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji" said: "On this night, melons and fruits are placed in the courtyard to pray for wisdom. If there are spiders with webs on the melons, it is considered a sign of luck." Wang Renyu of the Five Dynasties said in "Kaiyuan Tianbao Yishi": "On the seventh day of the seventh month, everyone catches spiders in a small box and opens it at dawn. The density of the spider webs is considered a sign of luck. The denser the web, the more luck there is, and the sparser the web, the less luck there is. 5. Throwing a needle to test one’s skill is a variation of the custom of threading a needle to pray for dexterity on the Chinese Valentine’s Day. It originated from threading a needle but is different from threading a needle. It was a popular custom on the Chinese Valentine’s Day during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 6. Worship "Mohele" Mohelo is a children's toy used for the Chinese Valentine's Day in the old days. It is a small clay doll, most of which are wearing a lotus leaf half-sleeve dress and holding a lotus leaf. On July 7th of every year in Kaifeng, people sell Mohelo, which are small clay dolls, in the "tiles outside Song Gate on the east side of Panlou Street, outside Liang Gate on the west side of Zhou, outside Beimen, outside Nanzhuque Gate, and in Maxing Street." 7. Worship the Weaver Girl "Worshiping the Weaver Girl" is purely a matter for young girls and young women. Most of them make appointments with their friends or neighbors in advance to host the event together with five or six people, or as many as ten people. The ceremony was to set up a table under the moonlight with tea and wine on it. There are offerings such as fruits, five seeds (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds), etc.; 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. Then, the young women and girls who had agreed to participate in the worship of the Weaver Girl fasted for a day, bathed, and came to the host's house on time. After burning incense and praying in front of the table, everyone sat around the table together, eating peanuts and melon seeds, facing the Weaver Girl constellation, and silently reciting their thoughts. For example, young girls who hope to be beautiful or marry a good husband, and young women who hope to have a baby soon, can pray silently to the Vega. We played until midnight. 8. Celebrating the Ox’s Birthday: Children will pick wild flowers and hang them on the ox’s horns on the Chinese Valentine’s Day, which is called “Celebrating the Ox’s Birthday” (legend has it that the Chinese Valentine’s Day is the ox’s birthday). 9. Worshiping Kuixing: It is said that July 7th is Kuixing’s birthday. 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. Because Kuixing can influence the fortunes of scholars in exams, scholars would solemnly worship him on his birthday, July 7th. 10. Eat Qiaoguo Among the festive foods for the Chinese Valentine's Day, Qiaoguo is the most famous. Qiaoguo, also known as "Qiqiao Fruit", comes in many styles. The main ingredients are oil flour and molasses. In Dongjing Menghualu, it is called "Xiaoyaner" and "Fruit Food Patterns", and the patterns include Naxiang and Fangsheng. During the Song Dynasty, Qixi snacks were already available on the streets. If you buy a pound of Qiaoguo, you will also get a pair of puppets wearing armor like door gods, known as the "Fruit Generals". The method of making Qiaoguo is: first melt the sugar in the pot into syrup, then add flour and sesame seeds, mix well and spread it on the table to roll it thin, let it cool, cut it into rectangular blocks with a knife, fold it into spindle-shaped dough embryos, and fry it in oil until golden brown. Dexterous women can also sculpt various patterns related to the Qixi legend. In addition, the fruits and vegetables used when begging for cleverness can also vary in many ways. Or carve fruits into exotic flowers and birds, or emboss patterns on the surface of the melon skin. The most common foods for the Chinese Valentine's Day are the "flower melon" and the "crazy fruit". |
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