Table of Contents
1. The Origin and Legend of the Qixi Festival
- The Story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
- The Symbolic Meaning of the Qixi Festival
2. Qixi Festival Activities and Traditions
- The Custom of Worshipping the Seventh Sister
- Activities of Worshipping the Seventh Sister in Different Regions
- "Qixi Festival" Celebration Ceremony
- Handicraft Competition of the Qixi Festival
- Unique Festival Food of the Qixi Festival
- The Making and Symbolism of Qiaoguo
- The Characteristics of the Special Dumplings of the Qixi Festival
3. Qixi Festival in Other Countries
- The Qixi Festival in Japan
- The Legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi
- Traditional Activities of the Qixi Festival in Japan
- The Seventh Festival in Korea
- The Story of Guiyu and Jingnu
- How to Celebrate the Seventh Festival in Korea
4. The Modern Meaning and Cultural Heritage of the Qixi Festival
- The Evolution of the Qixi Festival in Modern Times
- Exchange and Integration between Different Cultures
- The Romance and Warmth of the Qixi Festival
5. Conclusion
- Beautiful wishes for love and life on Qixi Festival
- Innovation and diversity in cultural heritage
Like other traditional Chinese festivals celebrated throughout the year, the Qixi Festival is considered a very important traditional festival in China and some other Eastern countries, carrying a deep cultural significance and historical heritage.
As the name "Qixi Festival" suggests, this festival is held every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. It is important to note that unlike Western festivals that are based on fixed dates based on the Gregorian calendar, the Qixi Festival is celebrated based on the Chinese lunar calendar, so its corresponding Gregorian calendar date varies from year to year, generally falling in July or August. This change in date based on the lunar calendar also adds a unique sense of mystery to this festival.
The biggest feature of the Qixi Festival is that it focuses on romance and love, which makes it unique among traditional Chinese festivals. Unlike most major Chinese festivals that are used to worship ancestors or reunite families, the Qixi Festival is more about expressing and celebrating romantic emotions. It can be said that the Qixi Festival is the "Valentine's Day" in Eastern culture, a festival exclusively for lovers.
In the following articles, we will delve into the origins, history, and related legends of the Qixi Festival to understand how this festival has developed from ancient times to the popular and important festival it is today. At the same time, we will also explore the traditional customs of the Qixi Festival and its interweaving with romantic culture in modern society. Let us start this cultural journey from the origin and history of the Qixi Festival!
History and Origin of Qixi Festival
Qixi originated from the ancient worship of stars, and then derived from the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. It is a festival with the theme of young girls worshiping star gods and praying for ingenuity. It is considered one of the most romantic traditional Chinese festivals. The customs of Qixi Festival gradually became richer during the Six Dynasties. After the Han and Wei Dynasties, it was mainly based on women begging for ingenuity, and it became an important day to show ingenuity and express women's wishes. People will carry out a series of activities such as threading needles to beg for ingenuity, spiders responding to ingenuity, and staying up all night to make wishes on Qixi Festival, and taste traditional delicacies such as Qiaoguo and Qiaoya noodles. From the courtyard-style Qiqiao Festival, to the social festivals in the Tang and Song Dynasties, to the courtyard return in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the contemporary Qixi Festival has expanded into a romantic festival in modern society.
Origin and early customs
The earliest record of Qixi Festival can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). In that era, the festival was more widely known as the "Qiqiao Festival", and the main activities revolved around women praying to the Weaver Girl to grant them intelligence and life skills (such as sewing, embroidery, and weaving). Women played games on this day to thread needles with silk threads to compete for dexterity, and prayed for a happy life in the form of offerings to the Weaver Girl.
To this day, Xihe County, Gansu Province, China, still retains the tradition of celebrating the Qiqiao Festival, and these ancient customs have added a heavy cultural significance to the inheritance of the Qixi Festival.
The Lantern Festival continued until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and quickly developed into a major festival in ancient China. At that time, temples and pavilions across the country were decorated with colorful fabrics, and poetry recitation became an important tradition during the festival.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the scale of the Qixi Festival was further expanded. The festival was no longer just a simple celebration, and a market was set up where people could buy and sell various items.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, this festival was widely considered to be a very important folk festival and was celebrated throughout the country. During this period, people began to place fruits, dishes and incense in temples and sacrificial sites, a tradition inspired by folklore, which we will discuss below.
The Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
The Qixi Festival we celebrate today is largely derived from the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Although there are other stories and legends about the Qixi Festival, this legend is the most well-known.
In fact, the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is widely considered to be one of the best and most important folk tales in ancient China, and was selected as one of the four major folk tales in China along with The Legend of the White Snake, The Butterfly Lovers and Meng Jiangnu.
Also called The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, this folk tale tells the story of a loyal and honest cowherd. Here is one version:
The Cowherd was a poor orphan who lost both his parents at a young age and was raised by his brother and sister-in-law. However, the sister-in-law was mean and often abused him. Eventually, the sister-in-law drove the Cowherd out of the house, leaving him with only an old cow and a few clothes as his only property. But this old cow is not an ordinary cow. It is the Taurus in the sky. Because it violated the heavenly rules, it was demoted to the mortal world by the Jade Emperor as a cow.
From then on, the cowherd lived a difficult life. But he was kind-hearted and relied on an old cow to farm and feed himself. The cowherd wandered around with the old cow, and finally settled down and built a house and a small shed for the old cow. The old cow was old, and many people laughed at the cowherd and the seemingly useless cow, but the cowherd did not care about them. The cowherd has been taking care of the old cow with care and love, and has established a deep relationship with the old cow.
The old cow saw the loneliness and kindness in the cowherd's heart, so he decided to help him. One day, the old cow suddenly spoke and said that it was actually a fairy in the sky. Because of past mistakes, the fairy was demoted from heaven and turned into a cow.
The old cow told the cowherd that there was a lake at the foot of the mountain east of his home. Every day, seven fairies would come down from the sky to play and take a bath in the lake. Among them, the youngest fairy, the Weaver Girl, was the most beautiful and kind. The Weaver Girl was tired of the monotonous life in heaven and was full of yearning for the human world. The old cow persuaded the Cowherd to meet him and suggested that the Cowherd hide and secretly take away the Weaver Girl's clothes, so that the Weaver Girl could not return to heaven, but could only stay in the human world and might become his wife.
The Cowherd followed the old cow's instructions and hid by the lake. When the seven fairies took off their feather clothes and played in the lake, the Cowherd plucked up the courage to take away the Weaver Girl's clothes. After taking a bath, the other fairies flew back to heaven, but the Weaver Girl cried anxiously because she could not follow her sisters back because her feather clothes were gone and could only stay in the human world. At this time, the Cowherd appeared with her clothes and returned the Weaver Girl's clothes to her, and confessed his behavior. The Weaver Girl was moved by the Cowherd's sincerity and kindness and decided to stay in the mortal world and marry him. After marriage, they lived a happy life with the man farming and the woman weaving, and had a son and a daughter. However, their happiness did not last long.
Unexpectedly, the Jade Emperor learned about this matter. The Weaver Girl married a mortal and the heavenly rules were broken. He was very angry. The Emperor of Heaven then sent the Queen Mother to escort the Weaver Girl back to heaven for trial. Cowherd found that the Weaver Girl had disappeared, leaving only him and his two children. He was in great pain.
The old cow told Cowherd that the Weaver Girl was captured and brought back to heaven, and then told him that he was old and was about to die. He asked Cowherd to use his skin to make a pair of shoes and two cloaks after his death. This was the only thing he could leave for Cowherd.
After that, the old cow died. Cowherd was very sad, but remembered the old cow's exhortation, and still made a pair of shoes and two cloaks with his skin. Cowherd put on the shoes, and gave the cloak to his children. They flew to heaven with the shoes and cloak and began to look for the Weaver Girl.
However, the Queen Mother in heaven knew all their actions, so she used her hairpin to transform into a turbulent Milky Way, blocking the way for Cowherd to heaven and separating Cowherd and Weaver Girl.
Cowherd and the children stood on one side of the Milky Way, and Weaver Girl stood on the other side, looking at each other and crying bitterly. Their cries moved countless gods and magpies. Seeing this scene, even the Queen Mother who was watching was moved by the steadfast love of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. She ordered the magpies to build a bridge on the Milky Way so that Cowherd could cross the river and meet Weaver Girl.
The Jade Emperor also ordered that Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet once a year on July 7 on the Magpie Bridge on the Milky Way. From then on, on this day every year, thousands of magpies flew to build the Magpie Bridge to help Cowherd and his family reunite. This has also become an important symbol of the Qixi Festival, representing loyal love.
Activities and Traditions of the Qixi Festival
Worship the Seven Sisters
Rituals and Activities
On the night of the Qixi Festival, the girls will set up a sacrificial table and offer flowers, fruits, rouge powder, small paper daily necessities and embroidery works. They gather together to hold a worship ceremony, burn incense and pray for blessings. There are even "flower boat" tours organized by women in Guangzhou and Dongguan. The yachts are decorated with jasmine and frangipani flowers, implying the arrival of fairies. These activities emphasize women's dexterity and virtue, and also express good wishes for the Weaver Girl.
Under the moonlight on the night of Qixi Festival, women will sit around the table and silently make wishes. Young girls pray for beautiful looks or ideal marriages, while young women pray for early birth of children or family happiness. These activities are full of warmth and mystery.
Girls' Day Handicraft Competition
Needle Threading
Melon skin carving
Although these customs have gradually faded in modern society, the continuation of this traditional activity can still be seen in some rural areas.
Unique festival food
1. Qiaoguo
Qiaoguo is a signature snack of the Qixi Festival, symbolizing the theme of the festival - cleverness and dexterity. It is made of flour, and the filling is usually sesame, sugar and honey. It is crispy and delicious after frying.
2. Qixi dumplings
Dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, and the dumplings on Qixi Festival are even more special. The dumplings are decorated with copper coins, which symbolize wealth, and red dates are added to symbolize the sweetness of love. These elements add more blessings and romance to the festival.
Through a variety of activities and traditions, the Qixi Festival shows the pursuit of love, family and a better life in Chinese culture. These customs are not only a symbol of the festival, but also a symbol of people's emotions, which have been passed down from generation to generation and continue to this day.
Tanabata in other countries
Japan: Tanabata
Activities and customs
The iconic activity of Japan's Tanabata is "hanging short books". People, especially young women, write their wishes on colorful strips of paper (short books) and then hang them on bamboo branches, praying for their dreams to come true. The wishes on the short booklet cover many aspects such as study, health, and love, reflecting the expectations for life.
2. Festival decorations
During the Tanabata Festival, streets are decorated with bamboo branches and colorful paper, and Tanabata parades or celebrations are held all over Japan. For example, the Sendai Tanabata Festival in Sendai is one of the most famous Tanabata events in Japan, attracting a large number of tourists to come and watch the gorgeous decorations and lanterns.
3. Fireworks show
During the Tanabata Festival, large-scale fireworks shows are one of the indispensable celebrations. The gorgeous fireworks illuminate the night sky and add a romantic atmosphere to the festival.
South Korea: Chilseok Festival
Activities and customs
During the Chilseok Festival, people visit temples to pray for love or family happiness. In addition, they watch the stars Altair and Vega shine together at night to pay tribute to the theme of the festival.
2. Festival food
Korean Chilseok Festival food is unique, including a snack called "Qiaoguo". Unlike Chinese Qiaoguo, Korean Qiaoguo is a pancake made of flour and filled with sweet red bean paste. It symbolizes sweet love and reunion happiness during the festival.
Through these similar yet unique customs, the culture of Qixi Festival is reflected in various forms across East Asia. These festivals not only convey good wishes for love and happiness, but also strengthen cultural connections and exchanges between countries.
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