Chinese Valentine's Day
Chinese Valentine's Day is on the Seventh Day of the Seventh
Month on the Chinese calendar, which falls on August 4th this
year. Legend has it that the seventh daughter of the Emperor of
Heaven, a weaving maid, fell in love and married a cowherd. They
were so much in love that they forgot everything else in their
lives and didn't complete their farming and weaving duties,
which angered the Jade Emperor. He exiled them to opposite banks
of the Silver River (Milky Way), and only allows them to meet
each other once a year on the night of the seventh day of the
seventh month. This legend has been handed down for nearly two
millennia. The Chinese people believe that the star, Vega, east
of the Milky Way, is Zhi Nu, and that Altair, on the western
side of the Milky Way is Niu Lang waiting for his wife. The
seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the only Chinese
festival devoted to love in the lunar calendar. Chinese
Valentine's Day traditions abound and this special day is
celebrated differently depending on the Chinese province.
Some of the many traditions include Chinese girls preparing
fruits, melons, and incense as offerings to Zhi Nu, the weaving
maiden, praying to acquire high skills in needlecraft, as well
as hoping to find satisfactory husbands. Girls place sewing
needles on water. If the needle doesn't sink, it's a sign of the
girl's maturity and intelligence and she is ready and eligible
to find a husband.
People in some Chinese provinces believe that decorating the
horns of oxen with flowers will save them from catastrophe.
Another tradition is for women to wash their hair to make it
look fresh and shining.
On Chinese Valentine's Day, young lovers go to the temple of the
Matchmaker and pray for their love and happiness, and their
possible marriage in China. In the evening, people sit outside
to observe the stars. On this night, Vega and Altair are closer
together than at any other time of year. Chinese grannies say
that if you stand under a grapevine, you can probably overhear
what Zhi Nu and Niu Lang are saying to one another.