Legend of Qixi Festival in China
Qixi Festival, also known as Eastern Valentine's Day, takes place on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month every year, associated with the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Google's Doodle on Qixi Festival
There are many versions of the story, but all believe that Ngưu Lang was a kind cowherd who won the love of the fairy Chức Nữ, the youngest daughter of the Queen Mother, who specialized in weaving colorful clouds in the sky. However, their love was forbidden and separated by the Milky Way River, the boundary between the two worlds of mortals and immortals. The two cried by the river. Finally, moved by their love, the Queen Mother ordered the crows to join their wings to form a Magpie Bridge across the river, so that the couple could meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
A young man displays a sign looking for a girlfriend during the Qixi Festival in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China
Mass wedding at Confucius Temple, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, China on Qixi Festival in 2016
Qixi is an important festival of the Chinese people, also known as Qixiao festival, Xiaoxi day, Qishudan day or Chongqing day. There are many forms of festival organization on Qixi in China. However, the most popular custom on this occasion is for young girls to display homemade art objects and pray for a good husband, so this is also considered a festival of women's domestic work.
Tanabata, the Qixi Festival in Japan
Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, also originated from the Eastern Qixi Festival. The date of Tanabata varies by region in Japan, but is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, usually on July 7.
Modern-day Japanese people celebrate Tanabata by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poems, on tanzaku (short books), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo branches, sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often floated on rivers or burned after the festival, around midnight or the following day, similar to the custom of floating paper boats and burning candles on rivers during the Obon festival.
Japanese people often celebrate Tanabata by hanging wishes on bamboo branches.
Large-scale Tanabata festivals are held in many places in Japan, mainly along shopping malls and streets, decorated with large, colorful sets of figures. Events include parades and Miss Tanabata contests. Like other Japanese festivals, many outdoor stalls sell food, offer carnival games and add to the festive atmosphere. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea often hold Tanabata festivals with a welcome parade featuring Minnie as Orihime and Mickey as Hikoboshi. Tanabata festivals are also incorporated into Japanese schools, where in addition to writing wishes, students can decorate their classrooms and compose poems.
"Mr. and Mrs. Ngau" in Vietnam
In Vietnam, it often rains on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, which is called the "rainy day". There is a folk saying: "It is said that in the 7th lunar month, it rains drizzle. The Son of Heaven marries a cowherd, which is also a problem". Legend has it that the rain is the tears of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl when they meet, and the 7th day of the 7th lunar month is also called the "Mr. and Mrs. Cowherd" day for that reason.
In Vietnam, it often rains on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month.
If it doesn't rain, couples in love often go to the temple, pray for a lasting and faithful love, watch the stars Altair and Vega together and make vows. On the night of the seventh lunar month, the Vega constellation will shine brightly. It is believed that if two people in love watch the Altair and Vega together on the night of the seventh of July, they will be together forever.
The love story of the buffalo herder and the weaver fairy has also become the inspiration for many contemporary Vietnamese songs, such as the song "Mua Ngau" by musician Thanh Tung, or "The love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" by Mac Phong Linh with "Feeling sorry for their unfulfilled love, the couple cried over their love, but why does the rhythm of suffering not reach the blue sky?" When he had to leave his lover, musician Lam Phuong also borrowed this story to write the song "Thu Sau" with "The person from a thousand miles returned with sadness, the O Thuc bridge leads to tomorrow..."
The custom of eating red beans on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month
Also on this day, people also tell each other that eating red beans is a way to pray for good luck in love, to soon meet your soulmate or to be with the person you love. And if you are already in a relationship, eating red beans will help you stay together for a long time and your love will be lasting.
Red bean sweet soup is considered a lucky dish on Qixi Festival.
There are many dishes made from red beans such as red bean sweet soup, red bean dumplings, red bean dorayaki, red bean sticky rice, red bean porridge... If you can't make it yourself, you can visit places selling sweet soup and freely choose the red bean flavors for yourself. For example, mixed red bean sweet soup, red bean yogurt sweet soup, red bean milk tea, red bean bingsu... On this day, sweet soups or drinks with red beans are guaranteed to be extremely popular. Although it is not clear whether eating red beans really brings luck to those who escape being single, the delicious and attractive flavor of red beans is worth a try.
