Chinese Valentine’s Day 七夕

 

There is another festival in July of the lunar calendar.

It's the 7th of July 七夕, also called 乞巧節, people look upon it as Chinese Valentine's Day.

It's the once-a-year meeting of 牛郎 and 織女 in Chinese mythology.

Many TV series adaptations are based on this story, but because the original story is very simple, the adaptation will add the Japan story ：天女羽衣.

天女羽衣(Japan)

Many prefectures in Japan have the legend of 天女羽衣

天女 is an attendant of the 天帝(Supreme God). They are all wearing the 羽衣 that would allow them to fly in the sky.

One day, a group of 天女 come to play in the 凡間 secular world. They find a beautiful lake, so they take off their 羽衣 and play in the lake. They put their 羽衣 on a big rock, but they don't know that there is a man behind the rock and he steals a 羽衣.

After a while, all of the 天女 put on the 羽衣 and go back to the sky, Only one of them couldn't find her 羽衣, so she cried at the lake. At that moment, the man appears. He takes her home and makes her his wife.

Years after their child was born, 天女 finally found her 羽衣, she put them on, and flew back to the sky without hesitation.

So what is the original story about 牛郎 and 織女?

There is a book called《述異記》(Shu Yi Ji) written around 500 AD that record:

《述異記》

「大河之東，有美女麗人，乃天帝之子，機杼女工，年年勞役，織成雲霧絹縑之衣，辛苦殊無歡悅，容貌不暇整理，天帝憐其獨處，嫁與河西牽牛為妻，自此即廢織紝之功，貪歡不歸。帝怒，責歸河東，一年一度相會。」

This is classical Chinese.

Translate it into modern Chinese, It says:

The 天帝's daughter lives east of the Milky Way(銀河), she is the Weaver Girl 織女, She works hard every day and makes lots of beautiful clothes, but she doesn't have time to dress up herself. She stays alone all day, making 天帝 feel sorry for her.  So 天帝 married her off to 牛郎 Cowherd, who lives west of the Milky Way.

But after getting married, 織女 and 牛郎 are only interested in playing with each other and do not work at all.

天帝 was furious and ordered them to separate, telling 織女 to return to her own residence and allow them to see each other only once a year.

So only on July 7th of the lunar calendar, the magpies will fly to the Milky Way 銀河 to become the Magpie Bridge 鵲橋, so that 牛郎 and 織女 can use the 鵲橋 to cross the Milky Way to see each other.

Something felt strange, right?

Because the ancients think the 銀河 Milky Way is a big river, the word 河 means river, and 銀 is the color of light.

So when you hear Milky Way, the image is this one.

But when we hear 銀河, we think of this one.

So, 銀河 it's like the stars in the sky are arranged like a river. That's why you have to use the Magpie Bridge to cross over it.

But don't you think they're just enjoying their married life, forgetting their duties, and making 天帝 angry to order them to separate, which is all their fault?

As a hard-working woman like me, I will not celebrate the lazy couple's love on that day. Instead, I pray to 織女, which is called 乞巧.

So, what's 乞巧？

According to mythology, women will pray to 織女 on the night of July 7th of the lunar calendar.

Since the Weaver Girl is good at craftsmanship, we will pray to her and hope that with her guidance, we will be able to be ingenious 心靈手巧. That is why this day is also called 乞巧節.

There is a way to test if your prayer is working.

Take a needle and thread, face the moon, and push the thread through the eye of the needle; if you can do this easily, it means your craftsmanship has become more skillful.