The custom of Qixi

In Yixing, Jiangsu Province, there is the custom of the Qixi Xiangqiao Festival. Every year on Tanabata, someone will participate and build a fragrant bridge. The so-called incense bridge is a bridge with a length of four or five meters and a width of about half a meter, which is made of all kinds of thick and long incense-wrapped paper. It is equipped with railings and decorated with flowers made of five-color lines. At night, people offered sacrifices to the binary star, prayed for good luck, and then burned the incense bridge, symbolizing that the binary star had crossed the incense bridge and met happily. This fragrant bridge originated from the legendary magpie bridge legend.

Dew contact

In rural areas of Zhejiang, it is popular to use washbasins to receive dew. 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.

Tanabata Qiao Qi

There are several ways to judge the cleverness of beggars on Qixi Festival, such as "piercing needles for cleverness", "liking spiders for cleverness", "piercing needles on the moon", "fighting at night" and "throwing needles for cleverness".

You qi Jie shui

According to folklore, on Qixi, seven fairies will descend from the sky and bathe in the river. At this time, because the river is polluted with fairy gas, washing will not only bring peach blossom luck, but also prevent diseases. People in Baise and Jingxi of Guangxi believe that the water on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is very holy and clean. The water on Tanabata can not only ward off evil spirits and diseases, but also make them happy in love and life. This custom is related to the legend that the local seven fairies descended to the world to bathe.

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".

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.