Jump to navigation Jump to search “Double Seventh Festival” redirects here. Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Good morning happy valentine’s day mythology.
The festival was derived from chinese mythology. People celebrated for the romantic legend of two lovers, Zhinü and Niulang, who were the weaver girl and the cowherd, respectively. Niulang was often abused by his sister-in-law. They eventually kicked him out of the house, and gave him nothing but an old cow.
One day, the old cow suddenly spoke out, telling Niulang that there would be fairies bathing in the spring nearby that night. During the Han dynasty, the practices were conducted in accordance with formal ceremonial state rituals. Over time, the festival activities also included customs that the common people partook in. They go to the local temple to pray to Zhinü for wisdom. Paper items are usually burned as offerings.
The festival also held an importance for newlywed couples. The celebration stood as a symbol for a happy marriage and showed that the married woman was treasured by her new family. On this day, the Chinese gaze up at the sky to look for Vega and Altair shining in the Milky Way, while Deneb, a third star, forms a symbolic bridge between the two stars. The eating customs of Qixi Festival vary from place to place, and are called eating Qiao food.
The most famous traditional food people eat on Qixi Festival is Qiao Guo, which has a history of more than one thousand years since it became popular during the Song Dynasty. The main ingredients are flour, oil and honey, sometimes adding sesame, peanuts, kernels, roses and other different ingredients. After mixing those ingredients, the people then deep-fry them. They burn the bridge at night and wish to bring happiness in life. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Due to the romance, elegance, and beautiful symbolic meaning of the festival, many pieces of literature, such as poems, popular songs and operas, have been written for this festival since the Zhou Dynasty.