Each festival has different meanings. Each festival has its own unique customs. Qixi Festival, also known as Valentine's day, is a unique Valentine's day in China. What are the customs of Qixi Valentine's day? Let's learn from Xiaobian.
What are the customs of Qixi
Qixi Festival is also known as "daughter's Day" and "Qiqiao Festival". The activity objects of the festival are mainly women, and the custom is mainly Qiqiao. The most common custom is that women carry out various begging activities on the night of July 7th. The way of begging is mostly for girls to put needles on, make small things and put some fruits on. This evening, I pray for luck, fortune and longevity through needlework. I pray for the seventh sister. The ceremony is devout and ceremonious. I display flowers and fruits and needlework. All kinds of furniture and utensils are exquisite and small.
There are great differences in the customs of Qixi in different regions
In Jinan, Huimin, Gaoqing and other places in Shandong Province, Qiqiao activities are very simple, just display the fruits of Qiqiao, if there are spider webs on the fruits, it means Qiqiao. But the custom of eating Qiaoqiao rice and begging Qiaoqiao in juancheng, Caoxian, Pingyuan and other places is very interesting: seven good girls gather grains and vegetables to make dumplings. They wrap a copper coin, a needle and a red date into three dumplings respectively. After the activities of begging Qiaoqiao, they gather together to eat dumplings. It is said that those who eat money are blessed, those who eat needles are skillful, and those who eat dates are early married.
Zhucheng, Tengxian and Zouxian call the rain of Qixi "lovesickness rain" or "lovesickness tears" because it is caused by the meeting of Cowherd and weaver girl. Jiaodong, Southwest Shandong and other places said that there were very few magpies on this day, and they all went to the sky to take a magpie bridge.
Today, there are still similar Qiqiao customs in Zhejiang. For example, in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and other places, on this day, we use flour to make all kinds of small objects, which are fried with oil and then called 'Qiao fruit'. At night, we display Qiao fruit, lotus root, white lotus root, and Hongling in the courtyard. The girl put a needle on the moon to pray for the weaver to give her skills, or to catch a spider and put it in the box. It is called Dexiao if the box is opened the next day.
Catching spiders on Chinese Valentine's Day
In the countryside of Shaoxing, there will be many young girls hiding under the pumpkin shed that grows luxuriantly. If you can hear the whispers when the Cowherd and the Weaver meet in the quiet of the night, the girl to be married will get the love that will last for thousands of years in the future.
In Jinhua area of Zhejiang Province, every family will kill a chicken on July 7, which means that the Cowherd and weaver girl will meet each other this night. If there is no cock to announce the dawn, they will never be separated.
In the west of Guangxi, it is said that on the morning of July 7, the fairy would go down to the world to take a bath and drink her bath water to avoid evil and cure diseases and prolong her life. This water is called "double seven water". People rush to get water from the river when the chicken crows on this day. After getting it back, they will use it in a new urn for later use.
The Qiqiao festival in Guangzhou is unique. Before the festival, the girls prepared colorful paper, grass, string, etc. in advance, and made all kinds of wonderful little toys. They also soaked the corn seeds and green beans in small boxes with water to make them sprout. When the buds grow to two inches long, they are used to worship the gods, which are called "worship Xianhe" and "worship the gods". From the sixth night to the seventh night of the seventh day, the girls put on new clothes and new jewelry. After everything is arranged, they burn incense and light candles. They kneel down to the stars, called "welcome the immortals". From the third to the fifth, they have to worship seven times in a row.
In Fujian, on the Chinese Valentine's day, Vega should enjoy and taste the fruits, so that she can bless the harvest of the next year. Offerings include tea, wine, fresh fruit, five seeds (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds), flowers and pollen for women's make-up, as well as a top censer. Generally speaking, after fasting and bathing, everyone turns to burn incense and worship in front of the sacrificial table, praying silently. Women not only beg for cleverness, but also for children, longevity, beauty and love. Then, while eating fruits, drinking tea and chatting, we play the game of begging. There are two kinds of begging Games: one is "divination", that is, asking yourself if you are clever or stupid with divination tools; the other is "match Qiao", that is, whoever wears the needle fast will be clever, and who slowly calls "lose Qiao". Those who lose Qiao should give the small gifts prepared in advance to those who are clever.
Fasting bath
In addition to the Qiniang's Mother Worship on the Chinese Valentine's day in Taiwan, small bowls of fried rice are often prepared to worship the "bed mother" in the room. Both of them should have similar meanings. It is the irreplaceable duty of women to produce and raise children. Therefore, these gods are only women gods. Between women gods and women believers, they form a close relationship, which dissolves the anxiety and fear of women when they assume the motherhood. The "bed mother" is the protection god of children. July 7 is the birthday of the bed mother. Families with children worship the bed mother by the bed where the children sleep in the evening. Offerings include: oil rice, chicken wine (or sesame oil chicken), burning 'Sifang Gold' and 'bed mother's clothes'. It's not too long to worship the bed mother. Unlike the usual worship, you need to pour wine and make three rounds. After the offerings are arranged, you can prepare to burn' after the incense is lit Sifangjin 'and' bed mother's clothes' can be withdrawn after burning. I hope that the child will grow up quickly and can't worship for too long. I'm afraid that the bed mother will spoil the child and stay in bed.
Ancient Dou Jing Village, Tanghui Township, Jiaxing, Jiangsu Province, has Qixi Xiangqiao Association. Every Chinese Valentine's day, people come to take part in building Xiangqiao. The so-called Xiangqiao bridge is a kind of flower decoration made of a bridge with a length of about 45 meters and a width of about half meters, which is made of various thick and long wrapping incense (incense wrapped in paper). It is installed with railings and tied with five colored lines on the railings. At night, people sacrifice the two stars, beg for happiness, and then burn the fragrant bridge, which symbolizes that the two stars have passed the fragrant bridge and met happily. This fragrant bridge is derived from the legend of magpie bridge.
This is recorded in Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. For example, "You county annals" in Xiangtan District of Hunan Province: "on July 7, women picked cypress leaves and peach branches and fried their hair in soup. 'and Qijun (Zhejiang native), a famous prose writer, also mentioned that his mother, uncle and other women's family members were all bathing in Qixi. This custom has something to do with the belief of "holy water" on the Chinese Valentine's day. It is believed that the spring water and river water taken on the Chinese Valentine's day, just like the silver river water, have the holy power of cleanness. In some places, it is directly called "heavenly grandson (i.e. weaving girl) holy water". Therefore, it is of special significance for women to bathe their hair on this day, which means that they can get the protection of weaving goddess by using the holy water in the galaxy to clean their hair. It is also popular to use a washbasin for dew. It is said that the dew on the Chinese Valentine's Day is the tears of Cowherd and weaver girl when they meet. If they are put on their eyes and hands, they will make people have a bright future.