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Nowadays, Chinese people pay a lot of attention to “Valentines Day” or a “Day of Love.” One of the most popular gifts that Chinese people give to each other on Valentine’s day is “roses.” Today, ACU PAY will introduce a Chinese Valentine Legend or Qixi Festival to all of you.
The Qixi Festival is on 7 of the 7th months in the lunar calendar. It is a long-standing Chinese festival that began to be spread during the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. In ancient times, the Qixi festival was exclusively for girls. Many of the various traditions were lost, but some of them have been inherited to the present day. China’s neighboring countries such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam are also influenced by the Qixi Festival. On May 20, the Chinese Cabinet listed the Qixi Festival as the first generation on the national list of Intangible cultural heritage.
This festival is actually derived from respecting the stars in the sky. There are often worship events held at night. Therefore, there is a tradition of praying to have lovers as wished
In history thousands of years ago, the Qixi Festival was related to the love story of a boy who raised a cow and a weaver girl, which made it a festival of love and was recognized as a Chinese romantic festival or modern Chinese Valentine’s Day.
In addition to the touching love legend between a human and a goddess of the Qixi Festival that has been deeply ingrained till modern times, the festival also reflects the astronomical wisdom of ancient Chinese people. The mythical ‘river’ caused by Xi Wangmu throwing hairpins to block Niu Lang from following Zhi Nu and reaching heaven is like the ‘Milky Way’ that stretches in the sky, while Niu Lang and Zhi Nu look forward to meeting each other at the other side of the river.
It is like 2 spheres shining on each end of the Milky Way which are Altair or the boy who raised a cow’s constellation of Aquila and Vega or a weaver girl’s constellation of Lyra. It is also remarkable that during the 7th month of the Qixi Festival in China, the sky is so clear that you can see the Milky Way, Altair, and Vega, representing a boy who raised a cow and a weaving girl legend.
Currently, some communities in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan hold ceremonies to celebrate the Qixi Festival. They are dressed in traditional Chinese costumes, do embroidery, and wish for a good spouse. There are also celebratory dishes at their convenience.
In Taiwan, there will be both food and snacks for parents to make for their daughters who have just got hitched or cooked for each other in the family. Some families make an alcoholic Chicken Soup called Ma yo ji jiu, which is an alcoholic chicken soup with ginger, sesame oil, and sake, seasoned with salt. It’s a healthy food for mothers after giving birth.
There is also a snack menu, Ruan Kao, which is rice porridge with a hole in the center similar to Chuikuai. According to the belief, this snack can hold the tears of weavers.
An offering was made to pay homage to the goddess of embroidery. A table was set up for makeup, red lipstick, combination, round glass, handkerchiefs, and little chairs for Zhi Nu to wear pretty makeup before meeting with her husband who raised a cow on the Milky Way.
The festival has been around for thousands of years now. In rural villages, there are still the same events to commemorate the tradition. In most cities, however, no more worship is held, but young people take this opportunity to say they love each other and wish for a good spouse. For business people, it is impossible to miss this opportunity to hold special promotions for couples. This is a great opportunity to stimulate the economy.
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