What are the folk customs of Tanabata?

The physical customs of Valentine's Day in China mainly include praying and wishing, begging for clever arts, and storing water on Qixi. Festive customs such as worship of natural phenomena, sacrifice and blessing have existed since ancient times. After the reunification of the whole country in Han Dynasty, the economic and cultural exchanges between North and South made customs and habits merge with each other, which provided good social conditions for the spread and popularization of holiday customs. Major traditional festivals began to spread from the Han Dynasty. Since then, the custom of Qixi has gradually appeared in the literature.

On the seventh day of July in the Han Dynasty, women of Gong E color would hold silk thread to have a needle-threading competition, and whoever wore it first would be smart. In the Tang Dynasty, women would go to the yard to catch spiders on the night of Tanabata, and the next day they would judge whether they were smart according to how much spiders spun silk. With the development of the times, the form of begging for cleverness has gradually evolved into various Qixi customs, such as throwing needles to test cleverness, playing tricks at night, drying books and clothes, and worshiping weaver girls.