The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the legendary day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet once a year on the Magpie Bridge. It is also known as the Daughter's Festival, Qiqiao Festival, and so on. Today, this ancient festival, full of unique Chinese ethnic ceremonial sense, is increasingly favored by young people, and more and more people are beginning to regard it as the "Chinese Valentine's Day".

Origin of Qixi

The "Qixi" festival originated from people's worship of nature. Historical documents show that at least three to four thousand years ago, with the understanding of astronomy and the emergence of textile technology, there were records about the Altair and Vega stars.

"Qixi" also comes from the ancient people's worship of time. The ancient Chinese combined the sun, moon, and the five major planets of water, fire, wood, metal, and earth, calling them the "Seven Luminaries". The number seven is reflected in the folk concept of time as a stage, and when calculating time, it is often taken as a terminal point with "seven seven".

Qixi Customs

Threading the Needle for Qi

Threading the needle for Qi has been a Qixi project since the Han Dynasty. It requires speed, accuracy, and skill to thread the needle on a moonlit night, which is a very difficult technical task. There is also a special horticultural Qi method in the folk, that is, planting Qi sprouts. Before Qixi, people cultivate bean sprouts or malt, and during the Qixi festival, women bring their carefully cultivated works to offer to the Qi Niangniang, and let everyone appraise, to see whose Qi sprouts grow strong, and who gets Qi. This is a competition of planting skills, an inspiration to women's wisdom, and an affirmation of the results of agricultural skills.

Worshipping the Weaver Girl

Worshipping the Weaver Girl is a major event for women. They usually make an appointment with their friends or neighbors in advance, five or six people, up to more than ten people, to hold a joint event. The ceremony is to set up a table under the moonlight, with tea, wine, fruit, five seeds (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds) and other sacrifices on the table; there are also a few fresh flowers, a bunch of red paper, inserted in a bottle, and a small incense burner in front of the flowers. On Qixi, the women who have agreed to participate in the worship of the Weaver Girl, after fasting for a day, take a bath, and come to the host's house on time, burn incense and worship in front of the case, and then everyone sits around the table, eating peanuts and melon seeds, facing the Vega star, and silently reciting their own wishes.