Every year on the evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, groups of magpies fly in and build a "Magpie Bridge" on the Tianhe River.

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is China people's Valentine's Day. Some people call it Chinese Valentine's Day or Daughter's Day, which is the most important day for a daughter's family. The seventh day of July is called begging for cleverness because it is said that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet the Tianhe River, and the daughter's family will worship the sky with melons and fruits at night to beg for cleverness from the goddess.

In addition to seeking the skills of the weaver girl, I also seek a clever match in marriage. Therefore, countless sentient men and women in the world will pray for a happy marriage to the stars on this night, in the dead of night.

The bright star in the west of the Milky Way is Vega. Vega is the alpha star of Lyra and the brightest star of Lyra. In ancient Greece, Lyra was regarded as a lyre, which was given to orpheus by Apollo, the sun god, and fascinated countless people. And next to Vega, there is a small diamond made up of four dark stars. Legend has it that this is the shuttle used by Weaver.

Opposite the milky way is the alpha star of Aquila, the Altair. The ancient Greeks imagined this constellation as an eagle soaring in the night sky, and Altair was the heart of the eagle.

There is a small star on each side of Altair in Aquila, both pointing to Vega. It is said that these two stars are two children carried by Altair with a pole, and they are struggling to catch up with Vega.

The origin of Tanabata Festival

A long time ago, there was an orphan who lived with his brother and sister-in-law. He is clever and diligent, but his sister-in-law still doesn't like him. Before dawn, he was driven to the mountain to herd cattle. Everyone calls him Cowherd. A few years later, my brother's sister-in-law and Cowherd separated, and Wolf Heart's sister-in-law only gave him a shabby hut and an old cow. Since then, the cowherd has been herding cattle and chopping wood during the day, and sleeping in that shabby hut with the old cow at night. One day, the cowherd drove the cow into a strange forest, where the mountains and rivers were beautiful and the birds were singing and the flowers were fragrant. Cowherd saw nine fairies driving Xiangyun on the grass by the river, so he took off his colorful clothes and jumped into the crystal clear river. The cowherd stared at the youngest and most beautiful fairy, fascinated. At this moment, the old cow suddenly said, "She is a weaver girl in the sky. Just take away the colorful clothes and she will be your wife. " Cowherd quietly followed the tree and quietly took away the colorful clothes of Weaver Girl. Near noon, other fairies wore colorful clothes and drove away in Xiangyun. Only the weaver girl in colorful clothes can't be found. At this time, the Cowherd came out from behind the tree and proposed to the Weaver Girl. Seeing Cowherd honest, hardworking and strong, Weaver Girl nodded shyly. After the cowherd and the weaver girl tied the knot, men plowed and women wove, respecting and loving each other. Two years later, Weaver Girl gave birth to a boy and a girl. However, Emperor Tiandi was furious when he heard that the Weaver Girl had married the world. On the seventh day of July, the heavenly queen ordered the heavenly soldiers to capture the weaver girl. With the help of the old cow, the grief-stricken cowherd caught up with the sky with a basket on his back. Seeing that she caught up, the Queen Mother pulled out the golden hairpin and a rough Tianhe appeared at the foot of the Cowherd. The grieving Weaver Girl and Cowherd are carrying their children, one in Hedong and the other in Hexi, crying far away. The crying touched the magpies, and in an instant, countless magpies flew to Tianhe and built a magpie bridge, where the cowherd and the weaver girl could finally meet. The Queen Mother had no choice but to allow the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to meet on the bridge once a year on the seventh day of July.

Of course, this is just a legend. The ritual of begging for cleverness originated from the original belief of the ancient weaver girl Sang Shen. This belief, combined with the saying that the cowherd and the weaver girl meet on July 7 every year, has become our folk belief in the seven skirts of Tanabata today.

In China, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, commonly known as "Qixi", is also called "Qiaoqiao Festival" or "Daughter's Day", which is the most romantic festival among Chinese traditional festivals and the most important day for girls in the past. In fact, not only Han people, but also Zhuang, Manchu and Korean people have had the custom of "Qixi". However, with the influx of Western Valentine's Day into China, "Valentine's Day in China" has gradually become known as Valentine's Day in China. But her influence among young people is far less than that of Western Valentine's Day in February 14 of the solar calendar every year. What's more, festivals with such a long history, profound cultural connotations and beautiful legends are increasingly ignored by society. Is the world changing too fast? Or is the festival not modern enough to keep up with the times? Will Cowherd and Weaver Girl really be abandoned by China people? The neglect of Tanabata forces us to focus on the rise and fall of traditional festivals in China. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month-Valentine's Day in China.

The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is one of the folk love legends.

Valentine's Day in China is always associated with the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. This is a beautiful love story that has been passed down through the ages, and it is one of the four folk love legends in China.

Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a clever and honest young man in Niujiazhuang, west of Nanyang. His parents died early, so he had to live with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law, Ma Shi, is vicious, often abusing him and forcing him to do a lot of work. One autumn, his sister-in-law forced him to herd cattle and gave him nine cows, but he was told to wait until he had ten cows, so the cowherd had no choice but to drive them out of the village.

……

One day, the weaver girl in the sky played games with the fairies and took a bath in the river. With the help of the old cow, the cowherd got to know the Weaver Girl, and they hit it off. Later, the Weaver Girl sneaked into the world and became the wife of the Cowherd. The weaver girl also distributed wild silkworms brought from the sky to everyone, teaching them to raise silkworms, spin silk and weave bright silks and satins.

After the marriage of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, a man plowed and a woman weaved, giving birth to two children, a man and a woman, and the family lived happily. But the good times didn't last long, and it was soon known to the Emperor of Heaven that the heavenly queen herself came down to earth and forcibly brought the Weaver Girl back to heaven, and the loving couple separated from each other.

There is no way for Cowherd to go to heaven, or the old cow told him that he could wear shoes with his own skin after he died. Cowherd did as the old cow said, put on shoes made of cowhide and took his children with him. On the verge of catching up, I'm afraid the queen mother pulled out the golden hairpin on her head, and a choppy Tianhe appeared. Cowherd and Weaver Girl are separated on both sides, and they can only cry each other. Their loyal love touched the magpies, and thousands of magpies flew to build a magpie bridge, where the cowherd and the weaver girl met. The Queen Mother has no choice but to allow them to meet on July 7th every year.

Later, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is said that when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge, the girls will come to the flowers and the moon, look up at the stars and look for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see their annual meeting, and pray to God that they will be as ingenious as the Weaver Girl and that they will have a happy marriage, thus forming China's Valentine's Day.