Every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is a traditional Chinese festival of Han nation called the Double-Seventh Day, which is also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day. As the main participants of this festival is young girls, and the main activities of this holiday is begging for cleverness, therefore people call this day as "Qi Qiao Festival" , "Young Girls Day" or "Daughters Day".
The Double-Seventh Day is the most romantic festival in traditional Chinese festivals, over the past days it is also a most important holiday taken account by unmarried girls. On the night of this day, women will threading needles and bedding for cleverness, praying happiness, welfare and health, as well as worshiping the goodness of Seven Sisters, the ceremony is pious and solemn ceremony, flowers, fruits and needleworks will be displayed to the goodness, and each piece of furniture, utensils used on the ceremony is beautiful, cute and lovable.
Double-Seventh Day also known as "Star Date", famous Chinese poet Wang Bo in his poem "Double-Seventh Day Ode" referred the Double-Seventh Day with "Star Date", and pointed out that the two nights are the most nicely and the most sorrowful and affecting nights related to parentchild relationship and love through the year, maybe just because this point, later people called the auspicious day when a man married with a women as "Star Date".
In clear summer nights, stars shines in the sky, a vast expanse of white Milky Way just like an overbridge traversed across the north and south, at the east and west coasts of the Milky Way, there is a shining star on each side, with the river between them, they gazed and desired at each other, opposite to each other distantly, that is the Altair and Vega.
Sitting and watching the Altair and Vega on the Double-Seventh Day, is a folk customs in China. According to legend, on this evening every year is the special date time permitted for the Cowboy and the Vega who was living in the heaven. Vega is a beautiful, smart and dexterous fairy, so on this night earthly women would beg for wisdom and cleverness to her, as well as a happy marriage, so the Double Seventh Day is also known as "Qi Qiao Festival".
It was taken as a legend that on the night of the Double Seventh Day, you can look up and see the meeting of Cowboy and Vega, and listened their lovingly words in the dating under fruit shelves.¡¡
In this night full of rich romantic air, girls will place seasonal fruits and melons, and worshiping to bright moon in the sky piously, and begging to the fairy endowing them with smart hearts and dexterous hands, so that they could become more deft on the needlework techniques, yet begging for a happy future and marriage. Over the past days, to each woman the marriage is the most significant opportunity which will decide whether they could achieve a lifetime happiness or not, so, at dead of night, there will be countless young men and women who would to worship the stary sky and begging for a happy future and marriage.
Wish You all shall be well, and Jack shall have Jill!
Happy Happy Double-Seventh Day!
* Original address of this China gift post: China Gift and Fine Arts & Crafts in China
