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

Now people celebrate every festival as Valentine's Day, and Qixi has become a well-deserved "Valentine's Day in China". However, compared with showing love, the custom of "playing tricks" on Tanabata has a long history.

It was a custom in China when he was seven years old. From the first day of the seventh month to the evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a girl in new clothes begged the Weaver girl in the yard, which was called "begging for cleverness". Begging is mostly done by girls by sewing, making small items and putting some fruits on them. Traditional folk begging methods vary from place to place and are full of interest.

Tanabata Festival custom

incense ash

In Yixing, Jiangsu, every year on Tanabata, people will come to build a fragrant bridge, offer sacrifices to the binary stars, pray for good luck, and then burn the fragrant bridge, symbolizing that the binary stars have crossed the fragrant bridge and met happily. This fragrant bridge originated from the legendary magpie bridge legend.

Worship the weaver girl

On Valentine's Eve in China, girls and young women "worship the Weaver Girl". Girls and young women gather their relatives and friends to worship the Weaver Girl. People laid tables and offerings in the moonlight. Girls and young women fast for one day. After the bath, everyone went to the front of the case to burn incense and worship. After the worship, everyone sat around the table, eating melon seeds and peanuts, silently praying for their wishes in the direction of Vega, such as getting more and more beautiful, finding a suitable husband, having children early, and a promising husband in the future. It's usually only midnight.

Bai kuixing

According to legend, July 7th is Kuixing's birthday, and Kuixing is the first star of the Big Dipper. People call it' Kuixing is the chief writer'.

The ceremony of' worshipping Kuixing' was also held in the moonlight. In eastern Fujian, on the night of Qixi Festival, there are often two incense tables in the patio: "Worship the Weaver Girl" and "Worship the Kuixing Star". Ladies and gentlemen get together and are divided into two small worlds of different sexes, which is very lively and interesting.

Eat proper fruit.

In Zhejiang, Wenzhou and Ningbo, people make all kinds of small things with flour and then fry them in a frying pan, which is called "Yiguo". In the evening, people set the table in the yard and put appropriate fruits, fruits and other foods. Friends and relatives sit around, enjoy a good night, eat appropriate fruits and other foods, and hope that they or their friends and relatives can become smart.

Yingxian county

From the sixth day of the seventh lunar month to the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, girls put on new clothes, jewelry, incense and candles and worship the stars, which is called "welcoming the immortals". From the third night to the fifth night, they will worship seven times in a row. After worshipping the immortals, the girls passed through the pinhole in front of the lamp shadow with colored threads in their hands. For example, those who can sew seven stitches at a time are called skillful hands, and those who can't sew seven stitches are called skillful hands losers.

acupuncture and moxibustion

On Valentine's Day in China, women play games such as threading a needle on the moon and beg for wisdom from the weaver girl, which is called "begging for wisdom". The woman holds five-color silk thread and nine-hole needle arranged in turn, and keeps threading the silk thread to the moon in the moonlight. Passing through all threads quickly is called "smart".

Needle testing skills

This is a variation of acupuncture custom on Qixi, which is different from acupuncture. This is a popular Valentine's Day custom in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. I lost my smart needle at noon on July 7th.

When a woman is in the water, she will see the water film. When she throws the embroidery needle, she will float and see the shadow of the needle underwater. There are clouds, flowers, birds and animals, shoes, scissors and eggplant, 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 a clumsy sign.

Nail painting

Nail dyeing is the custom of Qixi Festival, which is popular in southwest China. Many county records in Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangdong provinces also have this style.

Young girls in many areas like to wash their hair with liquid pulp from trees during festivals, which not only makes them young and beautiful, but also enables unmarried women to find suitable men as soon as possible.

In the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, women often wear flowered clothes and prick grass on Tanabata, which is called the ancient bridge. On Qixi night, each woman holds a bowl of clear water, puts the cut bean sprouts and shallots into the water, and divines her artistic life by watching the moon shadow. In addition, women also held competitions such as threading and cutting window grilles. See who is more skilled.

Qiu Zi

In ancient times, women not only asked Guanyin for children, but also asked the weaver girl for children on the seventh day of July.

How to beg? For example, put a chubby clay doll at home a few days before Tanabata to worship or plant some chestnut seeds, mung bean seeds, adzuki beans, bean sprouts, small flowers and grass seeds. Let them sprout carefully, which indicates that many children will be blessed.

Worship "Seven Mothers"

In southern Fujian, Taiwan Province Province and Hongkong, on this day every year, people go to the Seven Mothers Temple in groups of three to five to offer flowers, fruits, powders and sacrifices.

On this day, a "rite of passage" is popular in Taiwan Province Province, that is, when a child reaches the age of 15, his parents take him to Qiniang Temple with offerings to thank them for protecting the child from childhood, childhood and adolescence. On this day, Tainan will hold a "16-year-old" ceremony for children, and hold an adult ceremony. On Valentine's Day in China, some parents not only thanked the "Seven Mothers", but also specially hosted relatives and friends to celebrate their children's adult ceremony.

Although Fujian and Taiwan folk Tanabata don't pay much attention to seeking advice, they attach great importance to health preservation and eating customs. On the occasion of Tanabata, almost every household will buy Chinese medicine gentlemen and pomegranates.