China News Service, Beijing, August 3 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) "Begging for a chance to look at the galaxy, both of them will be beautiful." The upcoming Qixi Festival is a festival with rich cultural connotations, and a lot of knowledge is interesting and thought-provoking.

  Where does Tanabata come from?

What are some interesting customs?

What is the right way to say congratulations?

According to He Shaoya, a lecturer at the School of Sociology at Beijing Normal University, the Qixi Festival originated from the worship of stars.

Since the Han and Wei Dynasties, the Qixi Festival has been fixed on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month and has become a folk festival with women as the main body and begging as the main custom.

What is its origin related to?

  A beautiful Tanabata is always looking forward to.

It is understood that it originated from the worship of the stars, which is related to the ancient Chinese people used the stars to judge the season and the agricultural time.

Some scholars speculate that the worship of Vega had already existed in the Western Zhou Dynasty at the latest.

Data map: The picture shows the "Worship of the Weaver Girl" ceremony.

Photo by Lu Ming

  He Shaoya said that Vega belongs to the constellation Lyra and is the second brightest star in the northern night sky. The ancients used Vega as a sign of seasonal changes for a long time.

The Altair (Altair) star, which belongs to the constellation Aquila, is second only to Vega in brightness, and the two stars face each other across the Milky Way.

How has the holiday theme changed?

  Over time, Vega and Altair were gradually personified.

At least in the early years of the Qin Dynasty, the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl had become widely popular, but at that time Qixi Festival was still a taboo day for folk marriages.

  After the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the theme of the Qixi Festival began to undergo major changes, from a bad day to a good day.

In the lost text of Yingshao's "Customs and Tongyi" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is "The Weaver Girl on the Qixi Festival should cross the river, and make magpies as bridges".

Haven't the holiday time been fixed?

  According to He Shaoya, before the Han Dynasty, the date of Qixi Festival was about the first day of the seventh month, not necessarily the seventh day of the seventh month.

  After the Han and Wei Dynasties, the time node of Qixi Festival was gradually fixed, and seasonal customs such as women begging for cleverness, worshipping the Weaver Girl, telling the legend of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and eating clever fruit were formed.

Tanabata has other names?

  Qixi Festival is also known as Qiqiao Festival, Doll's Festival, Qijie Birthday, Qiniang Festival, etc. Its themes have experienced historical changes such as star sacrifice, happiness prayer, secular competition, and happy love.

Data map: The picture shows the girls in Hanfu showing the most traditional festival cultural content belonging to the Qixi Festival-Sacrificing to the Stars and Begging for Skills.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Liu Kegeng

  Among them, women begging for good luck is the most common custom on Qixi Festival.

The begging activity is a collective folk education for girls, an important opportunity for their morality, emotion, mind, and skills to continuously improve and improve, and also a ritual training for them to realize their identity, enhance their role awareness, and become socialized.

What are the "Qiao Qiao" activities?

  There are many ways of begging in ancient times.

For example, in the moonlight, women hold five-color silk threads and pierce seven-hole needles (or five-hole needles, nine-hole needles), and whoever can quickly pass through them all will be "skillful", which means that they can become skilled women in the future; Whoever dresses slowly "lose".

  According to He Shaoya, in addition, there are "begging for skill" methods such as throwing needles to check skill, liking spiders for skill, and seed for skill.

Wu Manyun, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, said in a poem: "The threading is close to each other every year, and Yu Qiao will try needles. Whoever sees the shadow of the dragon and the embroidered mandarin duck will not save others."

Data map: The picture shows the people's experience of needle injection.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita

What other interesting customs?

  Some other customs of Tanabata are also very interesting.

In some areas of Zhejiang and Fujian, it is still a children's festival.

  In Shitang Town, Wenling, Zhejiang, Qixi Festival is called "Little People's Day".

On this day, people give birthdays to children aged 1-16. No matter which day the child is born, it is concentrated on this day.

  He Shaoya mentioned that there are customs such as exposure of scriptures and clothes on Qixi Festival.

The Eastern Han Dynasty Cui Shu's "Simin Yueling" records that "the seventh day of July... Exposure of scriptures and clothes is a custom".

What seasonal food is there?

  Qiaoguo is a well-known traditional Chinese food for Chinese Valentine's Day.

Meng Yuanlao of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote in "Tokyo Dream Hualu": ​​"July Qixi Festival...and made a smile with oil noodles and molasses, which is called 'fruit food'."

  In Longyan, western Fujian, people make a kind of food called "maan" during the Qixi Festival.

The main ingredients of mapa are glutinous rice, peanuts and sesame seeds.

A few days before the seventh day of July every year, parents must make or buy hemp cakes for their daughters.

Magui means the blessing of a happy marriage for small families, and also symbolizes "prosperity of wealth and wealth".

Are these poems related to Qixi Festival?

  From ancient times to the present, there have been many legends related to Qixi Festival, and there are also many beautiful poems.

Data map: The picture shows the worship of "Qiqiao".

Photo by Zhang Yuan

  In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, "Nineteen Ancient Poems" appeared such a work: "Altair, Jiaojiao River Han girl... Ying Ying Ying Ying in the water, the pulse can't be spoken." Much spread.

  There are also works that meticulously describe the customs of the Qixi Festival.

For example, Shi Jianwu's "Qiao Qiao Ci" in the Tang Dynasty: "Qiao Qiao looks at the galaxy, both of them are beautiful. I don't think the needle is too small, but the moon is bright."

Is it "Chinese Valentine's Day"?

  The connotation of Qixi Festival has experienced a process of continuous enrichment and development.

  He Shaoya said that Qixi Festival was originally a sad day full of parting and parting, and later evolved into a time for lovers with a certain romantic color to get together; it was originally an annual family reunion, but now it emphasizes the reunion of husband and wife. .

  She believes that the Qixi Festival should not simply be regarded as "Valentine's Day".

On the one hand, Qixi Festival has rich cultural connotations. It is not only a festival to communicate the feelings of the sexes and adjust the relationship between the sexes, but also a traditional festival for Chinese women.

At the same time, Qixi Festival is also a festival to bless children's growth, and its content goes far beyond the cultural meaning of "Valentine's Day".

What is the right way to say congratulations?

  He Shaoya said that the Qixi Festival is mainly about family relationships, especially the relationship between husband and wife, so traditionally, people rarely send blessings to relatives, friends and colleagues during the Qixi Festival.

But now, people will also regard Qixi Festival as an important node of emotional communication, and there is nothing wrong with friends wanting to say happy Qixi Festival.

  Moreover, in some areas, Qixi Festival itself is a festival for women to communicate and children to grow up. Local people will also send blessings to their relatives and friends, wishing them healthy growth and academic progress.

(Finish)