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What is Qi Xi Festival?

2017-08-23 ShanghaiWOWeng


The Qi Xi Festival (七夕節) is a Chinese holiday that celebrates the annual meeting of a cowherder and a weaver girl in Chinese mythology. Qi Xi festival is the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese Lunar calendar. The name you might know this day by is the oh-so-infamous, Chinese Valentine’s Day.

 

  

Origin

 


Qi Xi festival comes from the romantic legend of two lovers, Zhinü and Niulang. The tale of The Weaver Girl and the Cowherder has been celebrated in the Qi Xi Festival for as far back as the Han Dynasty. The earliest-known reference to the romantic story goes all the way back to approximately 2600 years ago, where the poem is included within the Classic of Poetry.


Traditional Celebrations

 

 

·Girls will take part in worshiping the celestials (拜仙) during rituals and will go to the local temple to pray to Zhinü for wisdom or dexterity in their needlework, an often sought after talent of a good spouse. Not to mention, girls will make wishes for marrying someone who would be a good and loving husband.


During the festival, girls make a display of their domestic skills. There may even be contests amongst women who attempt to be the best in threading needles, often under low-light conditions like the glow of an ember or a half moon.


Modern Celebrations



Girls make their boyfriends take them dinner, a movie, and / or a long walk around the Bund or hint for weeks up until the event their boyfriend should propose on Qi Xi Day.


Girls demand the boy spends at least RMB 5,000 for Qi Xi Festival gifts / activities.Expect restaurant in town will be packed. And be prepared that 50% of mixed couples break up the day after Qi Xi festival. Most times, foreign Boyfriends have to leave town “for work.”

 

This Year



This year Qi XI Festival, or Chinese Valentine’s Day, will occur on Monday, August, 28th. Honestly you should probably go out and buy gifts in bulk and just stockpile them in a closet so even if you do forget about yet another version of lover holiday for your local girlfriend. Between February, March, and god knows how many other months have significant lover holidays within them, you want to make sure you have all your bases covered. 加油 boys! 


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