A request that this article title be changed to Double Seventh Festival is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
The Qixi Festival (Chinese:
Qixi Festival | |
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Also called | Qiqiao Festival |
Observed by | Chinese |
Type | Cultural, Asian |
Date | 7th day of the 7th lunar month |
2023 date | 22 August |
2024 date | 10 August |
2025 date | 29 August |
Related to | Tanabata (Japan), Chilseok (Korea), Thất Tịch (Vietnam) |
Qixi | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chinese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "Evening of Sevens" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Qiqiao | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 乞巧 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "beseeching craftsmanship" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A celebration of romantic love, the festival is often described as the traditional Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day.[5] The festival is derived from Chinese mythology: people celebrate the romantic legend of two lovers, Zhinü and Niulang,[5][2][4] who were the weaver girl and the cowherd, respectively. The tale of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has been celebrated in the Qixi Festival since the Han dynasty.[6] The earliest-known reference to this famous myth dates back to more than 2,600 years ago, which was told in a poem from the Classic of Poetry.[7]
The festival has variously been called the Double Seventh Festival,[4] the Chinese Valentine's Day,[8] the Night of Sevens,[2][9] or the Magpie Festival.[10]
Origin
editThe popular tale is a love story between Zhinü (
Traditions
editDuring the Han dynasty, the practices were conducted in accordance with formal ceremonial state rituals.[1] Over time, the festival activities also included customs that the common people partook in.[1]
Girls take part in worshipping the celestials (
The festival also held an importance for newlywed couples.[3] Traditionally, they would worship the celestial couple for the last time and bid farewell to them (
On this day, the Chinese gaze up at the sky to look for Vega and Altair shining in the Milky Way, while Deneb, a third star, forms a symbolic bridge between the two stars.[6] It was said that if it rains on this day, it was caused by a river sweeping away the magpie bridge or that the rain is the tears of the separated couple.[15] Based on the legend of a flock of magpies forming a bridge to reunite the couple, a pair of magpies came to symbolize conjugal happiness and faithfulness.[16]
The eating customs of Qixi Festival vary from place to place, and are called eating Qiao food. The most famous traditional food people eat on Qixi Festival is Qiao Guo, which has a history of more than one thousand years since it became popular during the Song dynasty.[citation needed] The main ingredients are flour, oil. and honey, sometimes adding sesame, peanuts, kernels, roses, and other different ingredients. After mixing those ingredients, the people then deep-fry them. Beyond that, people would eat crunchy candy, refreshments, and fruits together, expressing the people's pursuit of ingenuity, family health, and happy life wishes.
Literature
editMany pieces of literature, such as poems, songs, and operas, have been written for this festival and about the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, dating back to the Zhou dynasty Classic of Poetry.[17][18]: 179–182 [19] Many describe the atmosphere of the festival or narrate related stories. This has left a valuable literary legacy which helps modern scholars better understand ancient Chinese customs, feelings, and opinions relating to the festival.[18]: 181–182
- 迢迢
牽牛 星 – 佚名(東 漢 ) Far, Far Away, the Cowherd – Anonymous (a Han dynasty yuefu[18]: 179 [20])
迢迢
牽牛 星 , Far, far away, the Cowherd,
皎 皎 河 漢 女 。 Fair, fair, the Weaving Maid;
纖纖擢素手 , Nimbly move her slender white fingers,
札 札 弄 機 杼 。 Click-clack goes her spinning-loom.
終日 不 成章 , All day she weaves, yet her web is still not done
泣涕零 如雨。 And her tears fall like rain.
河 漢 清 且淺, Clear and shallow the Milky Way,
相去 復 幾許 ? They are not far apart!
盈 盈 一 水間 , But the stream brims always between
脈脈 不 得 語 。 And, gazing at each other, they cannot speak.
(Translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang[20])
秋 夕 –杜 牧 (唐 朝 ) An Autumn Night – Du Mu (Tang dynasty)
銀燭 秋光 冷 畫 屏 , A candle flame flickers against a dull painted screen on a cool autumn night,
輕羅 小 扇 撲 流 螢 。 She holds a small silk fan to flap away dashing fireflies.
天 階 夜色 涼 如水 , Above her hang celestial bodies as frigid as deep water,
坐 看 牽牛 織女 星 。 She sat there watching Altair of Aquila and Vega of Lyra pining for each other in the sky.
(Translated by Betty Tseng[21])
鵲 橋 仙 –秦 觀 (宋朝 ) Immortals at the Magpie Bridge – Qin Guan (Song dynasty)
纖雲
弄 巧 , Clouds float like works of art,
飛 星 傳 恨, Stars shoot with grief at heart.
銀漢 迢迢暗 渡 。 Across the Milky Way the Cowherd meets the Maid.
金風 玉露 一 相 逢, When Autumn’s Golden Wind embraces Dew of Jade,
便 勝 却人間 無數 。 All the love scenes on earth, however many, fade.
柔 情 似 水 , Their tender love flows like a stream;
佳 期 如夢, Their happy date seems but a dream.
忍 顧鶴橋 歸路 。 How can they bear a separate homeward way?
兩 情 若 是 久長 時 , If love between both sides can last for aye,
又 豈 在朝 朝暮 暮 。 Why need they stay together night and day?
(Translated by Xu Yuanchong[22])
Gallery
editOther
editInteractive Google doodles have been launched since the 2009 Qixi Festival to mark the occasion.[23] The latest was launched for the 2023 Qixi Festival.[24] The Qixi festival inspired the Tanabata festival in Japan, Chilseok festival in Korea, and Thất Tịch festival in Vietnam.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d Zhao 2015, 13.
- ^ a b c d e f g Brown & Brown 2006, 72.
- ^ a b c d e f Poon 2011, 100.
- ^ a b c d e f g Melton & Baumann 2010, 912–913.
- ^ a b Wei, Liming (2010). Chinese Festivals: Traditions, Customs and Rituals (Second ed.). Beijing: China Intercontinental Press. pp. 43–46. ISBN 9787508516936.
- ^ a b Schomp 2009, 70.
- ^ Schomp 2009, 89.
- ^ Welch 2008, 228.
- ^ Chester Beatty Library, online Archived 2014-10-22 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Magpie Festival". prezi.com. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
- ^ "Saint Valentine's Day: The Legend of Magpie Bridge". www.novareinna.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ "七夕节的由来和风俗简介_七夕节的来历和风俗特点". www.xuexi.la. Archived from the original on 25 April 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ a b c d Stepanchuk & Wong 1991, 83
- ^ Kiang 1999, 132.
- ^ Stepanchuk & Wong 1991, 82
- ^ Welch 2008, 77.
- ^ "Cowherd and the Weaving Girl". en.chinaculture.org. Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ a b c
中國 節 日 的 故事 (in Chinese) (1st ed.). Taipei:將門 文物 出版 社 . 2001. ISBN 957-755-300-1. - ^ Zhang, Megan (25 August 2020). "Qixi: The story, past and present, of Chinese Valentine's Day". The China Project. Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ a b Poetry and prose of the Han, Wei and Six dynasties (1st ed.). Beijing, China: Chinese Literature. 1986. pp. 25–26. ISBN 0-8351-1606-9.
- ^ "English Translation of Chinese Poetry –
中 文 詩 詞 英譯 ". 28utscprojects.wordpress.com. 23 November 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023. - ^ 许渊冲 (1 January 2021). 许渊冲译
宋 词三 百 首 (上 册 ) (in Chinese). Beijing Book Co. Inc. ISBN 978-7-999218-42-5. Retrieved 11 March 2023. - ^ "QiXi Festival 2009". Archived from the original on 13 June 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019 – via www.google.com.
- ^ "Qixi Festival 2023". www.google.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
Bibliography
editOffline
- Brown, Ju; Brown, John (2006). China, Japan, Korea: Culture and customs. North Charleston: BookSurge. ISBN 1-4196-4893-4.
- Kiang, Heng Chye (1999). Cities of aristocrats and bureaucrats: The development of medieval Chinese cityscapes. Singapore: Singapore University Press. ISBN 9971-69-223-6.
- Lai, Sufen Sophia (1999). "Father in Heaven, Mother in Hell: Gender politics in the creation and transformation of Mulian's mother". Presence and presentation: Women in the Chinese literati tradition. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-21054-X.
- Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin (2010). "The Double Seventh Festival". Religions of the world: A comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-203-6.
- Poon, Shuk-wah (2011). Negotiating religion in modern China: State and common people in Guangzhou, 1900–1937. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong. ISBN 978-962-996-421-4.
- Schomp, Virginia (2009). The ancient Chinese. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. ISBN 978-0-7614-4216-5.
- Stepanchuk, Carol; Wong, Charles (1991). Mooncakes and hungry ghosts: Festivals of China. San Francisco: China Books & Periodicals. ISBN 0-8351-2481-9.
- Welch, Patricia Bjaaland (2008). Chinese art: A guide to motifs and visual imagery. North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8048-3864-1.
- Zhao, Rongguang (2015). A History of Food Culture in China. SCPG Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-1-938368-16-5.
Online
- "Ladies on the 'Night of Sevens' Pleading for Skills". Dublin: Chester Beatty Library.
External links
edit- Media related to Qixi Festival at Wikimedia Commons