The origin of the Qi Xi(七夕 qīxī) Festival is a romantic but sad Chinese fairytale which known as “Cowherd and the Weaver Girl”. The tale tells the story of a pair of star-crossed lovers, nearly in the style of “Romeo and Juliet”.A moral cowherd and a fairy from heavens immersed in their forbidden adore, faced excellent objections from the Heavenly Empress. They had been finally separated. Every year on this faithful day, legend says, a large number of magpies from a bridge, transcending the barrier between the mortal and heaven worlds, to allow the pair of lovers to meet just on that particular day.
The whole story of “Cowherd and the Weaver Girl” may be read right here in our next article.
You’ll also find occasions organized by nearby communities. For instance in Hangzhou(杭州 Hángzhōu), through the popular West Lake, there’s a “Qi Xi Pace Match-making Event” where crowds gather in fun and jovial environment and retaining secret hopes of obtaining their Mr. or Miss. Proper in the group activates. A similar match-making occasion also is held in Nan Jing(南京 Nánjīng), attracting large crowds per annum.
Qi Xi Festival can be generally known as the “Festival to Plead for Skill”. That is derived from an ancient custom, where unmarried women would pray to “the Weaver Girl”, who’s a fairy princess with exceptional expertise in weaving, to grant them dexterous hands and needlecrafting capabilities. This was due to the fact that in the olden days, males saw needlecrafting skill as a vital requirement in their latent wives.
Customs differ from place to place in China. In some parts in Shandong(山东 Shāndōng) Province, fruits and pastries are placed as offerings, and if spiders wove webs on them, it would indicate that their prayers were heard and answered by “the Weaver girl’s fairy.”
Some would visit the temple on this day to pray to the matchmaking god for luck within their adore lives.
Other regions, friends would possess a gathering to make dumplings. In three of the dumplings, they would hide a needle, a copper coin as well as a red date. Once the dumplings are distributed, the one particular who finds the dumpling with the needle will be blessed with needlework capabilities, the coin with great fortune as well as the red date with an early marriage.
You need not to be worried about finding a needle or possibly a copper coin with your dumpling. Most of these customs will not be practiced in these days. More and more young folks in China now celebrates Qi Xi Festival while in the identical way the Valentine’s Day is celebrated in western worlds.
Present day celebrations normally involve flowers, presents and romantic dinners for your younger couples. Some households consider this opportunity to hold household events, or barbeque get-togethers in backyards or parks.
