What are the customs of Valentine's Day in China?

Tanabata is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, and there are many customs in China.

Acupuncture:

This is the earliest way to beg for cleverness, which began in the Han Dynasty and flowed to later generations. "Miscellanies of Xijing" said: "Women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles in Jinkai Building on July 7, and people have the ambition of Xi." The Chronicle of Jingchu Years Old by Liang Zongmou of the Southern Dynasties said: "On July 7th, it was a woman of Xijia family, who was wearing a colorful building with seven holes, or with gold and silver as needles." "Geographical Records" said: "Emperor Wu of Qi began to visit the city on the first floor. On July 7, court officials tried to thread the needle several times. The world calls it the needle-piercing building. " The Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On Qixi Festival, the palace was made of brocade, which was hundreds of feet high and could beat dozens of people in the world. Chen baked melons and fruits with wine, set a banquet, worshipped cows and girls, and each of his concubines wore a nine-hole needle, with five-color lines facing the moon. This is a wonderful time. It's fun to play the song of Qing business. The home of the natives is effective. " Yuan Taozong Yi's Record of Ye Ting in Yuanshi County said: "Chinese Valentine's Day is a place of ingenuity. In the evening, the ladies-in-waiting went on stage to wear Kyubi no Youko needles with colored silk. The person who finishes first is smart, and the person who finishes late is called a loser. Everyone contributed a gift. "

Spiders should be smart:

This is also an early way of seeking cleverness, and its popularity is a little later than that of seeking cleverness with needles, which generally began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Liang Zonggu of the Southern Dynasties said "A Record of Jingchu Times"; "In the evening, Chen Guaguo begged for cleverness in court. If you have a happy subnet on melon, you think it is corresponding. "

The Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On July 7, we all caught spiders in small boxes until dawn; Think of cobwebs as sparse and dense. Secret people have many clever words, while rare people have few clever words. So are folk works. " A Dream in Tokyo by Meng Yuanyuan, a poet of the Song Dynasty, said that on the seventh day of July, "Put a spider in the zygote and watch it the next day. If the net is round, it is just a coincidence. " Song Zhou Mi's "When I was one year old" said; "How long does it take to store small spiders in the house and wait for the density of the net?" Tomita Rucheng's "Joy of the Xi Tide" said that on Tanabata, "It is very clever to put spiders in a small box and see the density of their webs the next morning." It can be seen that the methods of testing ingenuity in past dynasties are different. The existence of the visual network in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the thinness of the visual network in the Tang Dynasty, and the roundness of the visual network in the Song Dynasty, followed the customs of the Tang Dynasty in later generations.

Needle throwing and skill test:

This is a variation of the custom of needlework on Qixi, which originated from needlework and is different from needlework. This is a popular Valentine's Day custom in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Liu and Yu Yizheng wrote in A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital: "On the afternoon of July 7th, we lost a clever needle. When a woman comes into contact with water, the water film looks strange, and the embroidery needle floats and looks at the shadow of the underwater needle. There are clouds, flowers, birds and animals, shoes, scissors and eggplant shadows, which are called clever begging; Its shadow is as thick as a hammer, as thin as silk and as straight as axis wax, which is wrong. " According to Zhili, in Liangxiang County (now southwest of Beijing), "On July 7th, women begged for cleverness, threw needles into the water, and inspected their work by the shadow of the sun." Please quote ten thousand miscellaneous notes in Textual Research on Old News in the Sunlight: "On July 7th, Yan Dou women threw small needles into the water. Or scattered like a flower, moving like a cloud, as thin as a line and as thick as a cone, all because of the ingenuity of the diviner. "

Blue night battle:

This game originated from the court of the Han Dynasty. Jia, the maid-in-waiting of Mrs. Qi, the wife of Emperor Gaozu, often talked about Chinese Valentine's Day in the Han Palace after she left the palace to marry Duan Ru, a man who helped the wind. She said: "On July 7th every year, the Han Palace plays the ancient philosophers first, and then the five colors are tied, which is called" mutual affection ". Later, the ladies-in-waiting went to the retreat building together, and everyone learned to wear seven clever needles to seek cleverness. There is also a maid-in-waiting named Xu Jieyu, who can carve raw lotus roots into various exotic flowers and plants and present them to the emperor. At night, the emperor would put these gadgets on the corner of the table in the palace and let the ladies-in-waiting look for them in the dark. This game is called' Qiao Qiao'. "

A little child-seeking:

In the old custom, a few days before Tanabata, first spread a layer of soil on a small wooden board, sow the seeds of millet to make it bear green seedlings, and then put some small huts and flowers and trees on it to make it look like a small village where people live in heaven, called a "shell board", or soak mung beans, adzuki beans and wheat in a magnetic bowl and tie it with red and blue silk threads. All parts of the south are also called "bubble cleverness", and the sprouted bean sprouts are called smart buds. Even the needles are replaced by smart buds and thrown on the water to beg for cleverness. Wax is also used to create various images, such as the characters in the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, or the shapes of animals such as vultures and mandarin ducks, which float on the water, which is called "floating on the water". There are also baby dolls made of wax, which women can buy home and float in the water and soil to show their good luck to their children, and they are called "metaplasia".

For Niu Qingsheng:

Children will pick wild flowers and hang them on horns on Qixi Day, which is also called "Happy Birthday to Cows". Because it is said that after the Queen Mother of the West separated the Cowherd from the Weaver Girl by Tianhe, the old cow asked the Cowherd to scrape off its skin and drive its cowhide to see the Weaver Girl. In order to commemorate the sacrifice spirit of the old cow, people have the custom of "celebrating the life of the cow".

Drying books and clothes:

According to the report, Sima Yi was very suspicious of Cao Cao because of his high status and great power. In view of the darkness of politics at that time, he pretended to be crazy and hid at home in order to protect himself. Wei Wudi was still worried, so he sent a close friend to let history secretly explore the truth. It was July 7, and Sima Yi, who was pretending to be crazy and selling stupidity, was also drying books at home. Make history back to leave Wei Wudi, Wei Wudi immediately ordered Sima Yi back to the office, otherwise you can be taken into custody. Sima yi only obediently obeyed and returned to the DPRK. Another kind of people, in troubled times, express their depression through depravity. They despise etiquette and oppose custom. Liu Yiqing said in volume 25 of Shi Shuo Xin Yu that on July 7th, everyone printed books, and only Long Hao went to bask in the sun. When people asked him why, he replied, "I print books." On the one hand, it despises the custom of printing books, on the other hand, it also boasts about the talent in its belly. Drying your belly is also drying books. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the custom of hanging clothes in the Han Dynasty created opportunities for rich children to boast about their wealth. Ruan Xian, one of the "Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest", looked down on this style. On July 7, when neighbors were hanging clothes, they saw that the shelves were full of silks and satins, which was dazzling. Ruan Xian unhurriedly picked up a worn-out dress with a bamboo pole. Someone asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I can't avoid customs and tell you!" " From these short stories, we can see how prosperous the custom of drying books and clothes on Tanabata is.

Sacrifice grinding and drink music:

Moeli is a little clay doll, a children's plaything on Valentine's Day in old China. Its image is mostly a lotus leaf half-arm skirt, holding a lotus leaf. On July 7th every year, in Kaifeng, "the tiles outside the Dongsongmen Gate of Panlou Street, the tiles outside the Xiliangmen Gate of Zhou Zhou, the tiles outside the North Gate, the tiles outside the South Suzaku Gate and the tiles in Xingjie Ma are all plastic puppets". In fact, the grinding and drinking music after the end of the Song Dynasty is no longer a puppet, on the contrary, it has become more and more exquisite. Moeli varies in size and posture, and the largest is as high as three feet, comparable to a real child. The materials made are ivory carving or bergamot carving, and the dressing of grinding and drinking music is extremely beautiful. There are painted wood carvings as column seats, or red sand cages as covers, and the toys in hand are mostly decorated with precious stones. The cost of grinding and drinking music is often as high as several thousand yuan.

Worship the weaver girl:

"Worship the Weaver Girl" is purely a matter for girls and young women. Most of them are with friends or neighbors in advance.

We invited five or six people, at most a dozen people, to co-host. The ceremony is to lay a table in the moonlight, and put tea, wine, fruit, five sons (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds) and other sacrifices on the table. There are also some flowers, tied with red paper, inserted in the bottle, with a small incense burner in front. Then, the young women and girls who make an appointment to attend the worship of the Weaver Maid will fast for one day, take a bath and come to their host's house on time. After burning incense in front of the case, everyone will sit around the table and meditate on their thoughts while eating peanuts and melon seeds. If a girl wants to be beautiful or marry a husband, and a young woman wants to have a baby early, she can silently pray to the Weaver Girl. Play until midnight.

Worship Kuixing:

It is said that July 7th is Kuixing's birthday. Kuixing literature, literati who want to be famous especially worship Kuixing, so they must worship him on Tanabata and pray for his success in the exam. Kuixing is mainly Kuidou, the Kuixing in the twenty-eight nights, the first star of the Big Dipper, and also the Kuixing or champion. In ancient times, scholars were called "the greatest scholars in the world" or "winning the championship in one fell swoop" because Kuixing was in charge of the exam.

According to folklore, Lord Kuixing is ugly, his face is covered with spots and he is lame. Someone wrote a limerick to make fun of him: if you don't publicize it, why decorate it? Even lead, don't cover it. Marrying Ma Gu into two beauties is no worse than coming to the hive. Leave claws under the eyebrows, and geese step on the sand beside their noses and mouths. It's just a nap in front of the eaves, and the wind blows plum blossoms on your forehead. Xiang Jun's jade toe is the strangest, with one high and one low. I want to dance when I take a leisurely walk, and the degree of fluttering is like a mouth. Only the road in the world is dangerous, and I am so tired that I am surprised. Don't laugh, the waist branches are often half folded, and the temporary swaying is also colorful.

However, the champion was ambitious and worked hard, so he went to high school. When the Emperor visited him, he asked him why his face was covered with spots. He replied: "Ma's face is full of stars"; Asked why he was lame, he replied "hop on one foot". The emperor was very satisfied and accepted him.

Another completely different legend says that Lord Kuixing was knowledgeable before his death, but unfortunately he failed every exam, so he threw himself into the river in grief and indignation. Unexpectedly, it was a turtle.

Rescued, ascended to heaven, became a kuixing. Because Kuixing can affect the test luck of scholars, every year on July 7th, his birthday, scholars should solemnly worship.

Seventh sister's birthday:

In Guangzhou, married women are generally not allowed to attend Chinese Valentine's Day, but the newly-married bride will hold a "farewell ceremony" in the first Chinese Valentine's Day. That is, on the sixth night, when offering sacrifices to God, there were red eggs, sour ginger and so on. (Take the omen to get the child), and add Sydney or sand pears to express the intention of leaving the Daughter's Day.

According to Volume 17 of Guangzhou Annals, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, there is an old custom of women boating in Shimen. The yacht is decorated with jasmine and jasmine, which is called a flower boat. They think this day is "Fairy Bath Day". The water quality of Shimenpu is clear, and it returns to the two mountains at sunrise and sunset in the morning and evening. Sometimes there are some mirage-like illusions in the sky. The boatmen hope to be lucky enough to see odd numbers, so the girls' tanabata tour in Shimen Agarwood Shop has become an important content, very lively and a holiday custom.

Dye nails:

Nail dyeing is a popular custom in southwest China, and it is also popular in many county records in Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangdong. Young girls in many areas like to wash their hair with the sap of trees during festivals. Not only can you be young and beautiful, but you can also let unmarried women find a suitable husband as soon as possible. Dyeing nails with flowers and plants is also a hobby of most women and children in holiday entertainment, and it is also closely related to reproductive beliefs.

Female shampoo:

It is also a special custom for women to wash their hair on Tanabata. It is recorded in Hunan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. For example, in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, "Records of Youxian County": "On July 7, women picked peach branches with cypress leaves and soaked them in soup." The famous essayist (from Zhejiang) also mentioned in her Notes that her mother, uncles, aunts and other harem members all washed their hair on Tanabata. This custom is related to the Tanabata belief in "holy water". It is believed that taking spring water and river water on Tanabata Day is as sacred as taking water from the Milky Way. Some places directly call it "the holy water of Tiansun (Weaver Girl)". Therefore, it is of special significance for women to wash their hair on this day, which means that with the holy water of the Milky Way, they will be protected by the goddess Vega.

It is also popular to catch dew with a washbasin. Legend has it that the dew on Tanabata is the tears when cowherd and weaver girl meet. If you put it in your eyes and hands, it can make people agile.

Ligate the ancient bridge:

In the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, it is also a custom to hold various begging activities on Tanabata night. Women often have to tie up grass people in flowered clothes, which is called the ancient bridge. They should not only provide melons and fruits, but also plant bean sprouts and shallots. On the night of Qixi, all the women held a bowl of water in their hands, cut bean sprouts and shallots, put them into the water, and used the shadow of the moon to predict the fate of cleverness. They also wear needles and thread to compete. At the same time, there will be activities to cut window grilles.

Worship the seven mothers:

Minnan dialect and Tanabata in Taiwan Province Province are the birthdays of "Qi Niang". Qi is a very popular way of offering sacrifices among the people and is regarded as an idol to protect children's safety and health. According to the textual research of the book Minnan People written by Lin Zaifu, a scholar from Taiwan Province Province in southern Fujian, most Minnan people have not been able to return to Taiwan Province Province or other foreign countries for business for many years, so women have to pin all their hopes on their children, and only with hope can they have the courage to live. Therefore, Tanabata, a lovesick festival, has evolved into a blessing for the "seven mothers" who protect their children.

On this day every year, people go to Qiniangma Temple in groups of three and five, offering flowers, fruits, powders and sacrifices. On this day, a "rite of passage" is also popular in Taiwan Province Province, that is, when a child reaches the age of 15, his parents will lead him to the Seven Mothers Temple to reward him for protecting his child through childhood, childhood and adolescence. On this day, Tainan will hold a rite of passage for a child aged 16 who is "sixteen". People in Taiwan Province Province believe that children were raised by fairy birds-mother birds-before 16 years old. The mother bird is Qi Tuo, so Qi became the patron saint of underage children. After the baby is one year old, the pious mother or grandmother will hold the baby in her arms, bring rich sacrifices, add cockscomb flowers and thousand-day red flowers, go to the temple to worship, pray for the year of Qi Ma to bless the child to grow up safely, and tie it around her neck with red envelopes or lock cards with ancient money until 16 years old. Only in this way can she win the lock card on Tanabata, thanks to Qi Ma's blessing for many years. Some parents, in addition to paying homage to the "Seven Mothers" on Tanabata, specially invited relatives and friends to celebrate their children's adult ceremony. Although the folk Tanabata in southern Fujian and Taiwan Province Province is not very particular, it attaches great importance to the custom of health food. On the occasion of Tanabata, almost every household will buy Chinese medicine gentlemen and pomegranates.

Eat the right fruit:

Proper fruit is the most famous holiday food in Chinese Valentine's Day. Proper fruit, also called "Kiki Fruit", has many styles. The main materials are oil, flour, sugar and honey. "Dream of China in Tokyo" refers to it as "laughing boy" and "eating fruit patterns", and the patterns include holding incense and winning prizes. In the Song Dynasty, appropriate fruits were sold in the market. The method of proper fruit is: first, put sugar into a pot and melt it into syrup, then mix it with flour and sesame seeds, spread it on the table, let it cool, cut it into cubes with a knife, and finally fold it into spindle-shaped proper fruit embryo and fry it until golden. Handy women will also create various patterns related to the legend of Qixi.

In addition, there are many changes in the melons and fruits used in Qiqiao: either the melons and fruits are carved into exotic flowers and birds, or the surface of the melon skin is embossed; This kind of melon is called "flower melon".