Valentine’s Day is a popular festival for lovers in western
countries. On this day, sweethearts buy cards, candy, flowers and
romantic dinners to prove their devotion to the one they adore.
People fallen in love always dream each day to be Valentine’s Day.
While it has been August now, for those sweethearts who are living and
working in western countries, the next Valentine’s Day will be about
six months later. What a pity!
It is a luck that the Chinese Valentine’s Day has come. It falls on
the 7th of August this year. In Chinese lunar calendar, it is on July
7, thus it has another name—Seventh Eve. Have you planned to spend a
Valentine’s Day in China with your sweetheart in these days? It must
be a quite different one because there are totally different customs
and traditions for this day. The first one is that on Seventh Eve
people always release lotus lanterns on water. As darkness falls,
surfaces of rivers, lakes, and ponds are dotted with the lanterns that
young men and women have released. The lanterns move slowly on the
water, carrying with them the longings of young men and women for a
perfect marriage. Under these circumstances, the sparkling stars in
the sky, the lotus lanterns in the water, and the lovers in the
moonlight or in the light of the lanterns together form the most
beautiful and romantic scene on earth!
Another one is to sit in the courtyard on Seventh Eve to watch the
Cowherd (the Altair) and Weaver Girl (the Vega) stars. It has become a
fixed custom in the Chinese culture. On a clear late summer night, the
two stars can be seen facing each other across the broad Milky Way. On
this night, girls will face the bright moon and pray to heaven for a
lover that can satisfy their heart’s desire
Why do people watch the Cowherd and Weaver Girl stars on the
evening of the Valentine’s Day? That is because the two very bright
stars are named on the basis of a fairy tale—the love story of Cowherd
and the Weaver Girl. It was said that the Weaver Girl was the 7th
daughter of the Jade Emperor. One day while visiting the earth and
bathing together with her sisters in a river, she was seen by the
Cowherd, a young farmer who had once rescued a holy cow. The holy cow
persuaded the Cowherd to take away the clothes of the Weaver Girl. In
the process of searching for her clothes, the Weaver Girl fell in love
with the Cowherd and they got married very soon. The Cowherd worked in
the fields while the Weaver Girl weaved at home, and they lived a
happy life. However, the Weaver Girl’s absence was discovered by her
mother, Wang Mu, the Jade Emperor’s wife, and she was enraged and took
the Weaver Girl to fly back to heaven. The Cowherd flew after them
with the help of the holy cow. Just as he was about to catch up with
them, Queen Mother of Heaven, removed her silver hairpin and drew a
line with it behind her. Immediately, a huge river appeared between
the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. This river is then called “the Silver
River”, known in the West as the Milky Way. As a result, the Cowherd
and the Weaver Girl were ruthlessly separated. Because of missing the
Cowherd who was kept at the other side of the Milky Way, the Weaver
Girl wept every day. Wang Mu took pity on the couple and she thus
allowed them to meet once a year. Their love moved magpies. On the
seventh eve of July in each lunar year, all the magpies would flock
together to build a bridge over the Silver River so that the couple
were able to meet each other on the bridge. Later, the poor couple
each became a star. The Cowherd is Altair and the Weaver Girl is Vega.
In ancient times, Seventh Eve was a festival for young girls who
would put on best clothes to celebrate the annual meeting of the
Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. They would also kowtow before offerings
in the courtyard to the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd and pray for
ingenuity. Chinese people nowadays no longer hold such activities for
the day has turned to be a day for sweethearts. However, the day
doesn’t lose its origin but is endowed with new meaning in modern
social atmosphere. The annual celebration of the day not only
continuously reminds Chinese people of the traditional custom and
strengthens the love for the Chinese culture but also gives chances to
people to show their love. Therefore, the day has become very popular
among young people.
“The Cowherd and Weaver” is an extremely influential fairy tale in
Chinese culture. For those foreigners who are interested in Chinese
culture should have known the tale but may not have a chance to
celebrate the day by them in Chinese way. Therefore, foreigners had
better try to celebrate this Chinese Valentine’s Day coming on August
7 this year, the previous day before the Beijing Olympics Games. It
must be pretty exciting to watch Olympic matches after the day you
have celebrated a very romantic Chinese Valentine’s Day with your
sweetheart! It is memorable, too. However, if you stay in China to
have a deep comprehension of Chinese Valentine’s Day, it is necessary
to learn some Chinese.
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