Chinese Valentine's Day

Qixi Festival or The Night of Seven, also known as Magpie Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar; thus its name. It has sometimes been called Chinese Valentine's Day since the late 1990s, which is, strictly speaking, an inaccurate portrait of the festival.

Girls traditionally demonstrate their domestic arts, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband. It is also known by the following names:

• The Festival to Plead for Skills
• The Seventh Sister's Birthday
• The Night of Skills

In 2012, this festival falls on August 23.

The Story of the cowherd and weaver girl

In late summer, 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, hence NiuLang , came across a beautiful girl ZhiNu, the seventh daughter of the Goddess, who just had escaped from boring heaven to look for fun. Zhinusoon fell in love with Niulang, and they got married without the knowledge of the Goddess. Zhinu proved to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang to be a good husband. They lived happily and had two children.

But the Goddess of Heaven  found out that Zhinu, a fairy girl, had married a mere mortal. The Goddess was furious and ordered Zhinu to return to heaven. (Alternatively, the Goddess forced the fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds, a task she neglected while living on earth with a mortal.)

On Earth, Niulang was very upset that his wife had disappeared. Suddenly, his ox began to talk, telling him that if he killed it and put on its hide, he would be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife.

Crying bitterly, he killed the ox, put on the skin, and carried his two beloved children off to Heaven to find Zhinü. The Goddess discovered this and was very angry. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way between Altair and Vega.

Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar while taking care of their two children (But once a year all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge  over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the seventh night of the seventh moon.

Variations of the story

• It was said that the Goddess of Heaven, out of pity, decided to let them unite once on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month as she was touched by their love for each other.
• In some versions it is the Emperor of Heaven, the cowherd's father, or the cowherd's mother who has the role of separating the lovers for them to focus on their work instead of romance.
• The star Deneb is a fairy who acts as a chaperone when the lovers meet on the magpie bridge.
• Rather than once a year, there is a version where the lovers were permitted to reunite once a month.
• There is a belief that sometime during the night of Qixi, the two stars Altair and Vega will actually unite on the same side of the Milky Way.
• Similar stories are told throughout Asia: in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia. In South-east Asia the stories were known as Sudhana Jataka, believed to be one of the stories of the past lives of the Buddha, or the jataka.

Some Traditions when Qixi Days

Qixi originated during the Han Dynasty. It came from people's worship of the stars. On Qixi, a festoon is placed in the yard and single or newly married women in the household makes an offering to Niulang and Zhinü consisting of fruit, flowers, tea, and face powder. After finishing the offering, half of the face powder is thrown on the roof and the other half divided among the young women of the household. It is believed that by doing this, the women are bound in beauty with Zhinü.

Another tradition is for girls to throw a sewing needle into a bowl full of water on the night of Qixi as a test of embroidery skills. If the needle floats on top of the water instead of sinking, it proves the girl is a skilled embroideress. Single women also pray for finding a good husband in the future. And the newly married women pray to become pregnant quickly.

People say that on this day it will rain, because of the crying in heaven. Others say that if you stand under grapevines on this night, you can hear the lovers talking.