What is the most representative custom of Valentine's Day in China?

With the spread of the myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, this story has been deeply rooted in people's hearts and become a household name, and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl have also been widely sympathized and respected by people. Weaver girl is ingenious. She is an ingenious woman. When she was still alive, she often taught everyone superb brocade embroidery techniques. Therefore, every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, women in many parts of China hold unique activities on this day. Young girls and young women offered sacrifices to Weaver and Cowherd when they met and were happy, begging for dexterity and asking Weaver to help them improve their embroidery skills. Therefore, people also call the seventh day of the seventh lunar month "Daughter's Day", "Daughter's Day" or "Begging for Cleverness". For a long time, praying for the Weaver Girl has become the most representative custom of Valentine's Day in China. Through prayer, people hope that they can have a pair of dexterous hands like Vega and weave better.

In ancient times, people attached great importance to the activity of "being clever". Before the festival, lanterns were decorated, Qiqiao Building was set up, fruits and vegetables were displayed, and women and children put on new clothes. This flattering custom began to take shape in the Han Dynasty. Ge Hong's Xijing Miscellanies in the Eastern Jin Dynasty once recorded:

Women in Han Cai often wear a seven-hole needle to open a business building on July 7th, and everyone is supporting it.

This is the earliest record of begging for wisdom that we have seen in ancient literature. By the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the custom of begging for cleverness had become extremely common. At that time, there was a special "seven clever needles" with seven pinholes at one end. Women thread colored threads back and forth through its pinholes. Whoever dresses fast shows that he is original, that is, begging for "intelligence".

There is also a saying that on the night of Qixi, women hold silk thread in their hands and thread the needle in the moonlight to see who passes first.

In the early days, there were legends of five-hole needles, seven-hole needles and nine-hole needles, which were full of competitive meaning. The ancients combined women's talents with gamification competitions. Shi Jianwu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, described the scene of her 6-year-old daughter's Chinese Valentine's Day:

The little girl is only six years old. I don't know whether she is clever or clumsy. In front of the main hall at night, scholars worship the new moon.

This poem depicts the innocence and fun of the little girl, and also depicts the scene of ordinary people celebrating Qixi. After Tanabata, being clever is the most important part. Lin Jie of the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem "Begging for Cleverness":

See Bixiao tonight on Tanabata, and cross the river bridge with the cowherd and the weaver girl.

Every family watches the autumn moon, and every family wears HongLing.

Wrote a touching monthly picture. Later, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty also attached great importance to Chinese Valentine's Day, and the activities of begging for cleverness on Valentine's Day in China became popular at this time. He built a Qiaoqi building in the palace, which is 100 feet high and can accommodate dozens of people. In addition, there are all kinds of fruits and vegetables upstairs for offering sacrifices to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

The concubines in the palace each used a nine-hole needle and a five-color thread, and the needle was inserted under the moon, which was clever first. At the same time, there were music performances, full of joy, which attracted everyone to follow suit.

In addition, the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Jianceng wrote in his "Gong Ci" 92:

Every year, ladies-in-waiting wear needles at night to ask relatives for a clever building.

Cui Hao's "Qixi" poem also said:

In Chang 'an, the moon is like practicing, and every family holds a needle and thread this night.

It vividly describes the Qixi custom of Chang 'an in Tang Dynasty.