How did ancient women in China celebrate the Chinese Valentine's Day?

According to legend, Cowherd and Weaver Girl are also collectively called "Lingpi". Li Qiao, a scholar in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in the poem "The Wind and Seven Xi Reflect": "Ling Pi will meet in the autumn of three years, and the fairy period is Qixi." Therefore, modern folks also call Tanabata "Begging for Cleverness Festival", on which men will "beg for cleverness" from the ingenious Weaver Maid:

One said Bujo. "Unfortunately" is to ask girls whether they will be smart in the future. "The Legacy of Kaiyuan" contains: Every morning on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and his concubines would hold a banquet in Tsinghua Palace, and let the ladies-in-waiting put spiders in a small brocade box to see the thickness of spider silk, so as to predict the degree of cleverness. "Dream of Liang Lu" said that Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty "at night, all the children and men in the city, rich and poor, put on new clothes. A bustling house, in a dangerous pavilion in a tall building, arranged a banquet to enjoy the festival. In addition, a set of incense table wine and fruit was set up in the wide court, which made the girl look forward to the moon, dare to fight and dare to worship, and skillfully beg the female cow. Or take a little spider and put it in a small box of gold and silver. The next morning, you can see that its net is round and straight, which is called' smart'. "

2. Very clever. Folk men wear needles in the game, and whoever wears them quickly is smart. "The Chronicle of Jingchu" said: "It was night, and the housewife tied the colorful building, pierced the seven-hole needle, or took the gold, silver and elm stone as the needle, and Chen courted the court." In Hangzhou, small fruits in various shapes are made of flour and sugar, and then fried in oil, which is called proper fruit. In the evening, Chen was in court, assisted by lotus, white lotus root and HongLing. Put a needle through your eye and pray that Weaver Girl will give you skilled skills. There is a poem that says: As threading approaches, I will try my hand. Who sees the dragon shuttle shadow alone and embroiders Yuanyang? "

3. Begging for cleverness. On the day before Tanabata, the girls took half the rain and half the well water, put them in a cable tray bowl, arranged them in the open air for one night, and then exposed them to the sun for half a day. At noon, everyone put the embroidery needle (or a new broom) on the water, floating but not sinking. After that, observing the needle shadow in the water, whether it is scattered like a flower, moving like a cloud, or wonderful, is considered to be "ingenious." Assuming that the needle shadow is thick, thin or straight, and there is no fancy, it is considered to be "begging."