Qi Xi

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Qi Xi (七夕; Pinyin: qī xī; "The Night of Sevens"), sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day, falls on the seventh day of lunar month seven of the Chinese calendar and thus its name. It is traditional for young girls to demonstrate their domestic arts on this day (especially melon carving) and to make wishes for a good husband. It is also known by the following names:

The Festival to Plead for Skills (乞巧節; qǐ qiǎo jié)
The Seventh Sister's Birthday (七姐誕; qī jiě dàn)
The Night of Skills (巧夕; qiǎo xī)

Japan also celebrates this festival on July 7 as the Tanabata festival (the word is cognate with the Chinese), celebrating the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). Note that some cities in Japan celebrate Tanabata on August 7, and in some areas they celebrate still on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar.

Other East Asian cultures still celebrate on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which in 2005 is on August 11. In Southeast Asia, however, the day is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, or Chap Goh Mei.

Contents

1 The Story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl
2 Variations of the Story
3 Traditions
4 Schedule
5 Other Romantic Days in Chinese Culture
6 See also

The Story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl

On the night sky of the late summer days the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky and the Chinese tell the following love story, of which there are many variations:

A young cowherd named Niulang (牛郎, "the cowherd", the star Altair) happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen next. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhinü (織女, "the weaver girl", the star Vega) to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niulang sees her naked she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang a good husband, and they are very happy together. But the Goddess of Heaven (in some versions Zhinü's mother) finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and is furious. (In another version, the Goddess forced the weaver fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds in the sky because she could not do her job while married to the mortal.) Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratches a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever (thus forming the Milky Way separating Altair and Vega).

Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children (his flanking stars β and γ Aquilae).

But once a year all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (鵲橋, "the bridge of magpies", Que Qiao) over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the seventh moon.

Variations of the Story

It was also said that the Goddess of Heaven out of pity decided to let them unite once on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. She was touched by their love for each other.
It is the Emperor of Heaven, or her father (other times, her mother), who keeps the lovers separate and he does so in order that they focus on their work instead of romance (the Maoist work-ethic version)
The star Deneb is a fairy who acts as a chaperone when the lovers meet on the magpie bridge (the G-rated version)
Rather than once a year, there was another version where the lovers were allowed once a month.

Traditions

On Qi Xi, a festoon is placed in the yard and the single or newly married women in the household make an offering to Niu Lang and Zhi Nu consisting of fruit, flowers, tea, and facial powder (makeup). After finishing the offering, half of the facial powder is thrown on the roof and the other half divided among the young women. It is believed by doing this the women are bound in beauty with Zhi Nu.

Schedule

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar in these ten years. (These are based on the Japanese lunisolar calendar. Chinese ones will be the same, but at most one of these might be only one day earlier in China.)

2006-07-31
2007-08-19
2008-08-07
2009-08-26
2010-08-16
2011-08-06
2012-08-24
2013-08-13
2014-08-02
2015-08-20

Other Romantic Days in Chinese Culture