The Origin and Customs of Chinese Valentine's Day

China Valentine's Day, also known as Qiaoqi Festival, Qijie Festival, Daughter's Day, Beggar's Day, Chinese Valentine's Day, Niuniu Festival and Qiaoxi Festival, is a traditional folk festival in China.

Valentine's Day in China evolved from the worship of the stars, and it is Seven Sisters's birthday in the traditional sense. Seven Sisters was worshipped on July 7th, so it was named Tanabata.

It is the traditional custom of Qixi to worship the seven sisters, pray, seek skillful art, sit and watch morning glory and weave stars, pray for marriage and store water on Qixi. After historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", making it a festival symbolizing love, thus being regarded as the most romantic traditional festival in China, and even having the cultural meaning of "China Valentine's Day" in contemporary times.

Valentine's Day in China is not only a festival to worship Seven Sisters, but also a festival of love. It is a comprehensive festival with the folk custom of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" as the carrier, with the theme of blessing, begging and courtship, and women as the main body.

The "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" on Tanabata originated from people's worship of natural phenomena. In ancient times, planetariums were associated with geographical areas. This correspondence is called "dividing stars" in astronomy and "dividing fields" in geography. According to legend, on the seventh day of July every year, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet at the Magpie Bridge in the sky.