In fine summer night, the stars are shining in heaven, and a wide river (the Milk Way, or the Silver River) is running through the vast north and south, east and west across the river, each side with a shining star. The two stars are looking in each other with a deep feeling between them across the distant river, that is, Qian Niuxing and Vega.
This is our civil customs during Tanabata to look up at the two stars in the clear sky. Legend has it that this evening of each year is the time when Zhinv will meet with the Cowherd on Queqiao (or the Magpie Bridge) in heaven. Zhinv is a beautiful smart fairy with a keen mind and quick and nimble fingers. So women on the earth will beg for her wisdom and clever art in the evening, sometimes also beg to her for happy marriage, So the Lunar July 7th is also known as Qi Qiao (Begging for Clever Art) Festival.
Legend has it that in the Tanabata night, we can see that the Cowherd and Zhinv meet each other on Queqiao across the Silver River, or under the fruits shelves could be eavesdropping their love whispers when they meet on the bridge.
In this romantic evening, in the bright moonlight, girls put the seasonal fruits on the tables, worship to the moon and beg the goddess of the sky to give them intelligence of mind, and dexterous hands, so that their female knitting and embroidery techniques are getting more skilful, at the same time begging for their love marriage. For the past women, married life of happiness was very very important to decide whether or not they would be happy in their whole life. Therefore, the world countless men and women will love this evening, deep night at all times, praying happy marriage in front of their stars.
The origin of Tanabata festival and ite legendary stories
Tanabata Qiqiao, this festival originated in the Han Dynasty. The Eastern Jin Dynasty Gehong Xijing Journal made the early records like these, "Han women often wear clothes with seven hloes to the Kaijin Floor on the lunar July 7. And then other people followed suit “. This is the first Qiqiao records that we’ve found In our ancient literature. Later, in the poetry of the Tang and Song dynasties, women QiQiao was also frequently mentioned. According to Kaiyuan Tianbao Yishi (yishi here means all things left over by history), it contains: Tang Taizong and his concubines had a big banquet during the Tanabata in Qinggong Palace, and the ladies and his concubines had their own QiQiao to have a gams between them in the bright moonlight. Also the practice of QiQiao lived continuously from generation to generation in civil folks.
In Song and Yuan dynasties, when Qiqiao Tanabata was grand, the capital the Qi Qiao also had an exclusive market to buy and sell all kinds of QiQiao goods, known as QiQiao Market. Zui Ong (Drunken Old Man) Talks of Luo Yup and Jin Ying of the Song dynasty said: "During Tanabata, QiQiao goods are on sale in front of Pan Buiding. From July 1 to July 3, the carts and horses are in traffic congestion and can’t move a bit until night comes to us."
From the grand purchase scene of Qiqiao goods, you can easyly find busy and lively success of the festival then. From the first day of July, people startied to do home Qiqiao items. The Qiqiao Market is thronged with steams of people. By the time approaching Tanabata, Qiqiao Market simply became one of the oceans of people, and the traffic was so hard for people. Speaking of its style and scale, it is no less than the biggest traditional festival - the Spring Festival, which means that the ancient Qi Qiao Festival is one of the most favorite holidays in the old times.
Legends about Cowherd and Zhinv
Tanabata Festival is always connected with the legend of Cowherd and Zhinv. This is a very beautiful love story, spreading through the ages, and has become one of the four major civil love legends.
According to the legend, a long long time ago, west of Nanyang City, there is a village of Niu and there lived a clever and honest and tolerant young man. His parents died at his early age, and he had to live with his elder brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law of Ma was unkind and vicious to him, and often abused him and forced him to do a lot of housework. One autumn, his sister-in-law forced him to graze their cattle. She gave him nine cows, but didn’t allow him to come home unless he had 10 cows. The miserable poor boy had no other way and had to drive his cows out of the village.
Cowherd alone drove his cattle into the mountains with deep grass. He sat, sad, under a tree, and did not know when he could go home with ten cows. Then appeared an old man with white bears and hair and asked him why he was so sad. When he was informed of his bad experience, he smiled and said to him: "Do not be so sad. There is a sick old cow in Funiu Mountain. You go to feed it properly and carefully, and you can drive it with you to go home.
Cowherd walked over the mountains. Finally he found that sick old cow after he covered a long long path. He found the cow had a terrible disease, and immediately went to fetch bundles of grass to feed it a series of three days. At last, the cow told him that he could have been a god in heaven called God Grey Cattle. In breach of the regulations, he was banished down from heaven, and broke his leg, unable to move. His injuries could not be cured unless they were washed one whole month with drops of dew of one hundred kinds of flowers. The kind cowherd was not afraid of hardship and took good care of the old cow one whole month. During the day he collected flower dew to cure the old cow, in the evening he slept beside the old cow. The cowherd happily drove 10 cows back home immediately the old cow was well.
After returning home, his sister-in-law was still not kind to him. Many times she wanted to hurt him, but the old cow managed to save him successfully. Finally, his sister-in-law was a shameful rage and forced him leave them, and he had to leave only accompanied by that old cow.
One day, Zhinv and all the other fairies came to the world from heaven and did some interesting games together, bathing in the river. With the help of the the old cow, the cowherd got to know Zhinv. They loved each other at first sight. Later, Zhinv secretly came to the world, and made the cowherd's wife. Zhinv handed out her silkworms taken from heaven to everyone in the village, and also taught them how to raise silkworms, how to spin and at last how to weave out light and bright satin.
After their marriage, Cowherd ploughed the fields and Zhinv wove cloth, and they loved each other deeply and happily. They lived a very happy life with one boy and one girl. But good times don’t last long. Soon her father, the main god of heaven, knew the love affair and her mother, Mother Wang, personally came to the world on a bright moonlight night and forcibly took Zhinv back to heaven. The husband and wife in deep love were breaking up.
The cowherd couldn’t go up to heaven. One day, the old cow told the cowherd that he , in its death, could use his skin to make shoes, and he could wear the shoes to heaven. In accordance with what the old cow said, he did wear leather shoes to fly to the sky, holding their children. Just when they caught up with Zhinv, Mother Wang pulled a hair clasp out of her own hair and made a draw between husband and wife. Here appeared a wide surfy river separatihng from each other, only shedding tears across the waving river.
Magpies were touched deeply by their love loyalty. Millions of millions of millions of magpies came to make them a bridge called QueQiao over the big river to succeed in making them get together and hug. Mother Wang was also helpless, and only allowed them to get together on QueQiao Bridge on the Lunar July 7 of each year.
Later, every Lunar July 7, Legend has it that when Cowherd and Zhinv got together, girls would come to the flowers in the moonlight, looking up to the sky to find Cowherd Star and Zhinv (Vega) Star on both sides of the Milk Way, hoping to see their annual meeting begging God to makd themselves Zhinv, a kind mind and quick and nimble fingers, and praying they could also have their own wishful heart of a happy marriage, which formed a Tanabata Festival.
Tanabata Festival customs
The most common customs in the Tanabata festival are that on the night of the lunar July 7 women always do various Qi Qiao activities together. The ways of Qi Qiao are mainly as follows: girls do some games of how to do better in small items and to put some friuts on the tables to compete in their knitting and embroidery. The various regions are of different ways of QiQiao, all interesting.
In Jinan, Huimin, Gaoqing, and other regions in Shandong, Qi Qiao activities are very simple, just displaying fruits to show their cleverness. If spiders make nets among the fruits, it means that it is a big success.
And in Juan City, Cao County, Pingyuan County and other regions, the trational customs to eat QiQiao dinner together are very interesting as follows. Seven close girls collect their own grain and vegetables to make dumplings. a coin, a needle and a red date are respectively hidden in three dumplings. After the Qiqiao activities, they get together to eat dumplings. Legend has it that the girl is blessed and happy who eats the dumpling containing a coin; the girl who eats the dumplin containing a needle will have the same quick and nimble fingers as Zhinv; the girl will soon be married who eats the dumpling containing a date.
In Zhucheng, Teng County and Zou County, the Tanabata Zouxian area under the rain falling in Tanabata festival is called "Love Rain" or "Tears of Love", because it is due to the meetijg of Cowherd and Zhinv who shed tears happily. Jiaodong, southwest of Shandong and other regions, this legend has it that in Tanabata people see fewer magpies because they have all gone to heaven to make the bridge across the Heaven River (the Milk Way).
Today, in many regions in Zhejiang Province, there exist the same similar Qiqiao customs and practices. In Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and so on, on this special day girls will always use flour to make all kinds of small items and then oil-fry them, which are called Qiao fruit. In the evening, many fruits are displayed on the tables in the courtyard. Girls do some knittings in the moonlight in order to pray for Zhinv thanks to her technology; or they may catch a spider, and put it in a box. The next day, they are very blessed if they find the networking of the spider in the box.
In rural areas of Shaoxin, Zhejiang Province, during the night, a good many girls will secretly hide themselves uner the pumpkin tents, which are in a lush growth. If they head the whisper of Cowherd Zhinv on the Sky Bridge in heaven, they will be very very happy that they are able to receive a Millennium love in the near future.
To express the desire that Cowherd and Zhinv can have a happy family life every day, in some regions of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, on July 7, every family should kill a chicken, intended to mean that if a rooster doesn’t crow at dawn whth they get together, Cowherd and Zhinv will never separate forever. will get together.
In western Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, legend has it that on the July 7 morning, the fairy Zhinv will come to the world to bathe. People say that drinking her bathing water can cure themselves to live a long long time. The water is called Double Seven Water. In the next morning, people will be scrambling to the river to fetch the water, after getting back home put it away in a new and clear urn for the future use.
In Fujian Province, in Tanabata Festival, girls let Zhinv appreciate and taste fruits and melons to hope for her bless for the coming harvest year. After their bathing, people take turns to burn incense to and worship God in front of the gifts table for God, praying in mind secretly. Women not only demonstrate their skills of knitting and embroidery but also beg for sons, for longevity, for beauty and for love. After that, Later, while eating fruits, having a tea and chatting, they are playing QiQiao games. There are two games: one is Bu Qiao, that is to tell their future or forecast whether they are stupid or not by using a kind of special forecasting items; the other is to compete in knitting and embroidery, that is to see who is to finish a certain sewing work fastest than others. The losers will give their small knitting gifts prepared in advance to the winners.
Among the Tanabata festive foods, the most famous fruit is also known as "Qi Qiao fruit", many styles. The main material is oil, flour, sugar, honey. In the Song Dynasty, Tanabata markets had QIQiao fruits on sale. The approach is: first to put white sugar in the melting pot to make it syrup, and then mix into the flour with sesame. After stirring them well, put it on the flour panel to make it very thin. Slice it into small pieces of rectangular after it is dried up, and then fold them into spindle shapes, finally oil-fry them to golden. Girls with nimble fingers can pinch various shapes related to the beautiful legend to show off their art of tricks.
Until today, Tanabata is still one of very romantic traditional festivals. Many customs have been to weaken or disappeared, but only the legend that is the symbol of loyalty of love between Zhinv and Cowherd, has been passed down from generation to generation and gone round common folks.
I wish you lovers married!
Happy Tanabata Festival!
I wish you lovers married!
