Chinese Valentine's Day; Also Known As the Qixi Festival 牛郎 織女
The Chinese Valentine's Day is always on the Seventh Day of the Seventh
Month on the Chinese calendar, and not on February 14th! Thus the
Chinese Valentine's Day 2010 is on August 16th. Qi Xi or qī xī;
means "The Night of Sevens" and is also known as the Magpie
festival.
'When is the Chinese Valentine's Day in 2010?', is sure to be a mean
question in pub quizzes. So prepared, know the date, and remember
the Qixi rule: 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese calendar.
Indeed say Will and Guy. Young people in China have adopted the
tradition of giving flowers, special chocolates and gifts as well as
making a special date to go out for the evening.
It is widely seen as a holiday for young couples and lovers. Men and
women mutually give gifts, although it's probably weighted more on the
side of the women on the receiving end.
Is Valentine's Day Commercial in China?
Will and Guy have considered this question and the answer, of course,
is yes, at least in large cities.
Supermarkets will have larger chocolate displays, flower shops will
increase their prices and have bouquets of all sorts ready for young
lovers.
Many restaurants will have special set menus and in a city like
Shanghai you'll need an advance booking at many places if you want to
take advantage of the special lovers' menu or just want to eat out.
The Festival Celebrated
On this Chinese Valentine day, lovers visit the temple of matchmaker
to ask for love and happiness and a chance to get married soon.
Even singles visit the temple in the hope of getting luck in their love
life.
This day is also celebrated by the name of "The daughter's festival".
According to an ancient love story the 7th fairy was very good at
weaving and earned the name of 'Weaving Maid'. Going by the legend, the
Chinese girls on this day pray to the weaving maid, so that they can
learn the art of weaving. When the Vega star, where the 7th fairy
resides is high up in the sky, then the girls carry out a test by
putting a needle on the surface of the water. If the needle doesn't sink
then it implies that the girl is mature enough to find a husband and
becomes eligible to ask for any wish.
¤¤
Some Food for Valentine's Day in China
Valentine's Day is a day full of love and romance. Research suggests
that to light up the element of romance in your life on this particular
day, you can cook various Valentine day recipes, which include butter
cookies, peanut butter cookies, popcorn chicken, carrot cake, strawberry
jelly cookies and a whole lot of valentine day cakes to celebrate the
special moment called love.
Legend has it that the seventh daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, a
weaving maid, fell in love and married a cowherd. They were
overindulgent in their love and neglected their farming and weaving
duties, which angered the Jade Emperor. As punishment, he exiled them to
opposite banks of the Silver River [Milky Way], and only allowed them to
meet each other once a year on the night of the seventh day of the
seventh month.
This legend has been handed down for nearly two millennia. The
Chinese people believe that the star, Vega, east of the Milky Way, is Zhi Nu, and that Altair, on the western side of the Milky Way, is Niu
Lang waiting for his wife.
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month
is the only Chinese festival devoted to love in the lunar calendar. Chinese Valentine's Day traditions abound and this special day is
celebrated differently depending on the Chinese province.
Some of the many traditions include Chinese girls preparing fruits,
melons, and incense as offerings to Zhi Nu, the weaving maiden, praying
to acquire high skills in needlecraft, as well as hoping to find
satisfactory husbands.
Girls place sewing needles on water. If the needle doesn't sink, it's
a sign of the girl's maturity and intelligence and she is ready and
eligible to find a husband.
People in some Chinese provinces believe that decorating the
horns of oxen with flowers will save them from catastrophe. Another
tradition is for women to wash their hair to make it look fresh and
shining.
This festival is also known as Qixi, or sometime the Magpie
festival.
§
Chinese Symbol for Love Conquers All
On Chinese Valentine's Day, young lovers go to the temple of the
Matchmaker and pray for their love and happiness, and their possible
marriage in China. In the evening, people sit outside to observe the
stars. On this night, Vega and Altair are closer together than at any
other time of year. Chinese grannies say that if you stand under a
grapevine, you can probably overhear what Zhi Nu and Niu Lang are saying
to one another.
A Chinese city has created a pedestrian crossing with a romantic theme to
help put couples in the mood for love.
Traffic officials in Chengdu came up with the idea for the crossing which
features two hearts and the message in English: "I love you", reports the
Tianfu Morning Post.
A hundred hearts would be too few To carry all my love for you.
Anon
Three couples got married on a river in China while balancing on bamboo
poles Will and Guy have established. The brides [see photo] all wore
traditional wedding dresses while the grooms wore suits for the grand
occasion on the Xiangjiang River in Zunyi city, Guizhou province.
All three couples belong to the local single bamboo rafting club, and
chose to get married on the water to show their skill at the sport. We have
heard the sport involves racing on the river while balancing on a locally
produced bamboo pole around 20cm in diameter. Their aim is to
popularise their sport. What a delightful story of true romance.
Chinese Valentine Wedding
A bridegroom carries his bride on a bicycle on a street in Liuzhou,
southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The newly married couple held a bicycle wedding accompanied by more
than 30 cyclist friends.
Will and Guy have recently learned that the Great Wall of China has
never looked so tasty: a team of Chinese confectioners have built a 10
metre [33 ft] long replica of the structure entirely out of chocolate in
a bid to entice people to eat more of the sweet stuff on Chinese
Valentine's Day.
The chocolate theme park will exhibit creations such as the Great
Wall, the Dunhuang Caves and Terracotta Warriors when it opens to the
public on the 29th January, 2010 we can report.
A worker adjusts Terracotta Warriors made of chocolate at the
Chocolate Wonderland held in Beijing, China on 14th January, 2010
Up to 80 tonnes of chocolate were used in making the displays, which
include a mini-army of 560 chocolate replicas of the famous Terracotta
Warriors standing to attention on a layer of chocolate flakes. The
chocolate wall is made from solid dark chocolate bricks stuck together
with white chocolate. Chocolatier Wang Qilu, informed us that his
version of the ancient wall was a feat of engineering in itself, with a
carefully constructed crumbling section at one end to resemble the real
thing. He also had to make sure his materials did not melt.
A Chinese man took his girlfriend to visit an aquarium and then
shocked her with a surprise proposal from inside the tank. This
romantic act took place at the Fuzhou Zuohai Aquarium, in Fuzhou, Fujian
province.
Will and Guy have discovered that Wang Jian, 28, had been taking
diving lessons in secret from girlfriend Xie Wenzhen, 24, for two months
before his proposal.
'Jian left me in front of the giant water tank saying he was going to
get some drinks,' said Miss Xie. 'Suddenly a boy holding a bunch
of flowers appeared in the water, and two other divers behind him opened
a scroll, reading, 'Please marry me.'
'I was totally stunned, as I realised that the man in the tank was my
boyfriend. I never expected I would be taking such a leading role in the
proposal. I'm so happy.'
Our photo shows Miss Xie putting her hands to Mr Wang's against the
glass; she then kissed him through the aquarium glass to signal her
acceptance.
My dearest wife is always going on and on and ON about NOT making a fuss over her on Valentine's Day. She repeats that it's the thought that counts.
Well, I put a lot of thought into
the gifts from previous Valentine's day but she didn't quite take to any of them like I assumed she would. Here's my list - see what you think:
Brand new mop and bucket. I was thinking it would be fun to see what colour the floor was because I couldn't remember.
Romantic dinner at fast food restaurant. I was thinking that she might like to go inside for a change instead of fetching dinner at the drive through.
Chocolates left-over from last year's candy box. I was thinking of how proud she'd be of me for not wasting food. She's been nagging me for years to recycle.
Midnight moped ride through the park. I was thinking that I'm getting too old to be peddling on the bike.
Dozen roses printed on high quality photo paper. One of my favourites this - I was thinking these would last a lifetime instead of just a week.
45 second back massage. I was thinking any longer and she might think I was interested in something else.
Windows 7 I was thinking how proud she would be to be a part of the technology crowd.
Footnote Please send us your items about Chinese Valentine's Day
2010 (Qixi)
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