on the eve of Valentine's day, we have the legend of Cowherd and weaver girl. Tanabata is a special Valentine's day in China. Do you know the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl? What is the origin of Tanabata? Let's have a look.
The story of the Cowherd and the weaver girl on Chinese Valentine's Day
Qixi Festival is always connected with the legend of Cowherd and weaver girl, which is a very beautiful and eternal love story, becoming one of the four major folk love legends in China.
It is said that there was a smart and loyal young man in niujiazhuang in the west of Nanyang city. His parents died early, so he had to live with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law Ma was cruel and often abused him, forcing him to do a lot of work. One autumn, his sister-in-law forced him to herd cattle, gave him nine cows, but he could not go home until he had ten cows. Niulang had no choice but to drive them out of the village.
Niulang drove the cattle into the mountain alone. On the grassy and dense mountain, he sat under the tree and was sad. He didn't know when he could drive ten cows home. At this time, an old man with white hair appeared in front of him and asked him why he was sad. When he learned about his experience, he smiled and said to him: 'don't be sad. There is an old cow who fell ill in Funiu Mountain. Go and feed it well and wait for the old cow When you are well, you can drive it home.
Niulang went over the mountains and mountains, walked a long way, and finally found the sick old cow. Seeing that the old cow was seriously ill, he went to get a bundle of grass for the old cow and fed it for three days in a row. When the old cow was full, he raised his head and told him that he was the grey cow fairy in the sky. He was demoted to the sky for violating the rules of heaven, and his legs were broken, so he could not move. His injury needs to be washed with the dew of flowers for a month. The cowherd takes good care of the old cow for a month. He picks flowers for the old cow in the daytime and receives the dew to cure the injury. At night, he snuggles up beside the old man and sleeps. When the old cow is well, the cowherd happily drives ten cows home.
After returning home, his sister-in-law was still not good to him. She had hurt him several times and was rescued by the old cow. Finally, she was very angry and drove the cowherd out of the house. The cowherd only wanted the old cow to accompany him.
One day, the weaver in the sky and the fairies went down to play together and bathed in the river. Niulang met the weaver with the help of the old ox. they had mutual affection. Later, the weaver secretly went down to the earth and became Niulang's wife. The weaver also gave the silkworms brought from the sky to you, and taught you how to raise silkworms, draw silk, and weave bright silks and satins.
After Niulang and Zhinv got married, they cultivated men and wove women. They were very affectionate. They had a man, a woman and two children, and their family lived happily. But it didn't last long. The emperor soon knew that the queen mother herself came down to the earth and forced Zhinv back to the sky. The loving couple was separated.
Niulang has no way to go to heaven. The old cow told Niulang that after he died, he could make shoes out of his skin and wear them to heaven. Niulang made it according to the old cow's words. He put on the shoes made of cowhide, took his children and went up to the sky to chase Zhinv together. When she saw that she was about to catch up with Zhinv, she pulled out the gold hairpin on her head and waved it. A turbulent river appeared. Niulang and Zhinv were separated on both sides of the river, and they could only cry and weep. Their loyal love touched magpies. Tens of thousands of magpies came to build a magpie bridge to let Niulang and Zhinv go to the bridge to meet each other. The queen mother had no choice but to allow them to meet each other on July 7 every year.
Later, on the seventh day of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is said that when the Cowherd and the Weaver meet at the magpie bridge, the girls will come under the moon before the flowers, look up at the stars, look for the Cowherd and the weaver on both sides of the Milky way, hope to see their annual meeting, and pray that the heaven can make themselves as nimble as the weaver girl, and pray that they can have a happy marriage, thus forming the seventh Evening Festival.
What are the customs of Qixi Festival
Peach branches
Broken peach branch is one of the customs of the Chinese Valentine's day. Peach branch can dispel evil Qi, relieve insect poison and stop abdominal pain. It can be used to wash hair and remove filth and greasiness.
Hibiscus
On the Chinese Valentine's day, most women will crush the hibiscus leaves in the water, filter the hibiscus leaves juice to wash their hair, commonly known as the sill tree. It is said that washing hair with hibiscus strips can keep the hair clean for a long time without any harm. The function of descaling is much better than cleaning products such as soap.
Comb washing machine
As the saying goes: 'on June 6, open the book and seal; on June 6, check the box and clothes. In Jiading, Jiangsu Province, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, Dexing, Jiangxi Province and other places, on this day, most of the women have the activities of hair washing and combing.
paint fingernails
On the Chinese Valentine's day, women pound the Fengxian flower juice and dye the tip of the ring finger, which is called red nail. It is said that if the red nail is kept until new year's day of the next year, the old man can see it and cure his eyes from fainting.
He Niu's birthday
July 7 is the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver meet. In order to express their congratulations, they call this day the ox's birthday. On July 7, the shepherd boy gathered wild flowers and planted them on the horn of the ox, which is called "Celebrating the ox's birthday" to show his sympathy for the cowherd.
Jigsaw puzzle
Qiqiaoban, also known as wisdom board, is cut into seven pieces with a square thin plate of different sizes. It can be used to assemble various figures, fonts and other shapes to open up children's intellectual fatigue.
Sewing needles
In the custom of Chinese Valentine's day, the needle is a special festival prop, which was used by ancient girls. It's necessary to do needlework. On the night of July 7, if the needle can be put on smoothly, it will be "lucky", and the "loser" will give the gift prepared in advance to the lucky one.
Seed and seek children
It is to use a cardboard or wooden board to make an inch of soil. On the first day of July, green beans and small beans will be planted. Wait for it to grow the bud that applies inch, tie a bunch with red, blue silk rope again, call 'kind lives', also call' five lives a basin 'or' lives a flowerpot '. There are also wax baby dolls for women to buy and float in the water and soil, which are called "Huasheng".