The Qiqiao Festival
Double-Seven Day is also known as "Qixi Festival", "Qiqiao Festival" or "the Seventh Sister' s Birthday". This Chinese traditional festival is celebrated in Chinese-speaking communities and certain Southeast Asian countries that have been influenced by Chinese culture. In ancient China, women would pray to the star Vega for wisdom, which is called "Qiqiao", on the night of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. That night is later tied to the romance legend of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu meeting on a bridge of magpies within the Milky Way. As such, this festival is called "Chinese Valentine' s Day" by younger generations now. "Double-Seven Day" was added to the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list of China in 2006.
Text
China's Qiqiao Festival: A Festival for Girls
Qiqiao Festival, also known as Girls' Festival, is a time-honored cultural event for girls and women to honor the fairy-goddess known as the Queen of Skills, entertain themselves and exchange life skills in Xihe County of Longnan City in northwest China's Gansu Province. Qiqiao Festival, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, coincides with China's Qixi Festival, or Double Seven Festival, often regarded as Chinese Valentine's Day. Both festivals fall on August 2, 2014. Covering 1,861 square kilometers, Xihe County is an agricultural county consisting of six towns, 14 townships, 384 villages and 10 communities with a population of 420,000, including the rural population of 380,000, with the Han Chinese making up the ethnic majority of residents. Xihe has a long history. Archeologists have discovered that the area has been settled for at least 7,000 years, after unearthing a New Stone Age human activity site in the region. Mount Qiuchi to the south of Xihe is known as the birth place of Fuxi, the first of the (possibly apocryphal) Three Sovereigns of ancient China, who reigned during the mid-29th century before the Common Era. Xihe was also the place where Zhuge Liang (181-234), a chancellor of the state of Shu Han (221-280) during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280) marched his army in to battles against Cao Cao (155-220), a warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Xihe is also the place where Du Fu (712-770), a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) passed in to southwest China's Sichuan. Despite all of the above, Xihe is best known for its well-preserved Qiqiao Festival, the comprehensive seasonal festivity incorporating tributes to the goddess, poetry, music, dancing, fine arts and handicrafts. The celebration starts on the eve of the first day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar and ends on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month. Young girls pray to Weaver Girl (a fairy from heaven, skillful at needlework, also known as the Queen of Skills) for wisdom, skills and virtue as well as a happy marriage and life. The Queen of Skills, an ideal figure based on Han Chinese culture and female aesthetic psychology, embodies traditional Chinese virtues and is a spiritual ballast for Chinese women from generation to generation, guiding them to grow into hard-working and kind-hearted people. Qiqiao beats all other festivals nationwide in terms of history, the quality of its singing and dancing performances, the sincerity of its participants, the unity of its different events, and its number of participants. The festival is known as a 'living fossil of ancient Chinese customs.' In October 2006, Xihe County was named 'Home to China's Qiqiao Culture' by the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society. In June 2008, Xihe Qiqiao Festival was added to the First National Intangible Culture Heritage List by the State Council. Since 2006, Xihe County has held four Qiqiao Cultural Tourism Festivals, playing an important role in preserving, protecting and developing traditional folk customs as well as playing a positive role in promoting the healthy growth of girls into adulthood and the construction of harmonious families. The Origin of Xihe Qiqiao Festival Qiqiao Festival is one of the most legendary traditional Chinese celebrations because of its profound folk culture connotations. According to expert textual research, the festival was the product of people's worship for their ancestors and the stars during China's agricultural development. Regarding ancestor worship, Qiqiao is a Qin cultural relic in Xihe County and Li County, for the river valley area in the north of Xihe was the birth place of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC), the first imperial dynasty of China and a great number of national cultural relics have been unearthed from the Qin Tombs in the Mount Dapuzi historic site, north of Xihe County. According to local legend, about 2,500 years ago, Lady Xiu, granddaughter of Zhuanxu, a mythological emperor of ancient China, devoured the egg of a black bird and gave birth to a son called Ye, the ancestor of the Qin people, as told in The Records of the Grand Historian, a comprehensive history of ancient China that covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (156 BC – 87 BC) in the 2nd century BC. As head of the Qin tribe, Lady Xiu was a key figure in the Qin's transition from matriarchal society to patriarchal society. Known for her weaving skills, Lady Xiu was said to be the prototype of Weaver Girl, who Xihe women regard as the Queen of Skills. For thousands of years, local people have celebrated Qiqiao Festival to show their worship for their ancestors, mainly in 12 townships and towns in Xihe County and eight ones in Li County, with the largest number of participants hitting more than 400,000. Regarding the worship of the stars, Xihe Qiqiao Festival is closely associated with a love story between the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd (a kind-hearted fellow from the earth). Vega and Altair, on opposite sides of the Milky Way, first appeared in The Classic of Poetry, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. Ancient people made a love story based on the two stars. According to the law of the heavens, the Weaver Girl (symbolizing Vega) and Cowherd (symbolizing Altair) fell in love with each other but couldn't get married because they were from different worlds. Hence, they were banished to opposite sides of the Silver River (symbolizing the Milky Way), and couldn't see each other but could feel each other's tears. Later, their loyalty to love moved tens of thousands of magpies to build a bridge for the Weaver Girl and Cowhand to meet each other. Finally, heaven was moved and the Cowhand and Weaver girl were allowed to meet each other on the seventh of the seventh lunar month. Their meeting date has been called Qixi or Double Seventh Festival. This love story has been passed down from generation to generation. Many ancient books and poems call the Milky Way Han, Tianhan, or Yinhan, which can be ascribed to the major river (Xihan River was originally named Han River) in the birth place of Qin. As ancient Qin people regarded Lady Xiu as the Weaver Girl, the river where she lived beside was thus called Han. In addition, the capital of Xihe County is called Hanyuan Town, which also proves that Xihe is one of the birth places of that love story. Qiqiao Festival is well preserved on a large scale in Xihe because of its stable agricultural and cultural society and self-sufficient economy as well as its comparatively isolated geographic environment and traffic. The worship ceremony is a key part in the celebration, which has various activities. For example, girls can stay outside overnight in groups, singing and dancing, making delicious food and displaying handicrafts in honor of their ancestors. Although parents were strict with girls in Chinese feudal society, they were allowed to go out and attend collective activities in the hope that girls could be endowed with wisdom and skills by the Queen of Skills at the worship ceremony. The stable social environment and people's longing for happy lives have led this folk custom to pass down from generation to generation. Besides, the isolated geographic environment and traffic have also kept Xihe away from the influence of other cultures. Located in the deep mountains, with limited traffic, in the southeast of Gansu Province, Xihe also stayed away from wars in ancient times. Dominated by its agricultural economy, Xihe has economically lagged behind in modern times but protected its various folk customs well. With its original magic, the Xihe Qiqiao culture has nowadays enriched local handicrafts and promoted tourism, and will beef up its economy in the future. Qiqiao's Influences on Xihe Women Qiqiao is indeed a Girls' Festival in Xihe. In the past, only unmarried women could take part in Qiqiao celebrations so that they could make friends, sing and dance, and exchange life skills to release their depressing feelings and show their talents. At the festival, young women pray to the Queen of Skills, hoping to become smart, skillful and popular girls. What's more, they can entertain themselves and expand their interpersonal relationships on their path to adulthood. Nowadays, young women still make up the majority of participants, but middle-aged and elderly women also take an active part, singing and dancing, talking and laughing, to reminisce about their happy girlhood and enjoy a happy life. Qiqiao has become an annual festival for all the women in Xihe. Qiqiao's influences on local women's growth are listed as follows: --Fostering Girls' Handicrafts. 'Qiao' in Qiqiao means a keen mind and dexterous hands. Local girls begin to learn spinning, embroidering, paper-cutting, writing, painting, and weaving and other skills under their mothers from a young age. During the seven-day and eight-night celebration, girls display their handicrafts. The most skillful girl earns acclaim from the elder generation and wins respect from other girls. --Developing Housekeeping Skills. 'Qiao' also represents good cooking skills. During the celebration, girls present their self-made guo, a kind of fried flour-made food, to the Queen of Skills. They also build a cooking stove to make dishes at the gathering. Girls with good cooking skills gain popularity from the elder generations and become competitive candidates when the elders select daughters-in-law. --Developing Artistic Skills. 'Qiao' requires being good at singing and dancing. As the celebration goes on day and night without stopping, girls' groups from different villages sing and dance for their fellow villagers. Talented girls usually attract attention from young men. --Carrying Forward Traditional Chinese Virtues. 'Qiao' also covers filial piety. Under the influence of Qiqiao culture, local girls absorb traditional Chinese virtues, such as independence, diligence and filial piety. Unmarried girls are well-behaved daughters of their parents, while married ones are filial and capable housewives guarding the harmony and happiness of their families. In modern society, Xihe women not only take over household chores, but also work at their positions to contribute to the construction of a harmonious society. --Expressing the Longing for Free Marriage. During the celebration, girls go out in groups, which was the only opportunity for Chinese girls to step out of their houses and show their looks and talents in public in Chinese feudal society. While girls show their singing and dancing skills, as well as their handicrafts, young boys and their mothers look for favorite girls among performers and girls also seek out desirable boys. Mothers usually ask matchmakers to propose a marriage. In a sense, girls can gain some freedom for their marriage. All in all, Qiqiao Festival is a great event to help girls grow up healthily and happily in China.Qiqiao Festival, also known as Girls' Festival, is a time-honored cultural event for girls and women to honor the fairy-goddess known as the Queen of Skills, entertain themselves and exchange life skills in Xihe County of Longnan City in northwest China's Gansu Province. Qiqiao Festival, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, coincides with China's Qixi Festival, or Double Seven Festival, often regarded as Chinese Valentine's Day. Both festivals fall on August 2, 2014. Covering 1,861 square kilometers, Xihe County is an agricultural county consisting of six towns, 14 townships, 384 villages and 10 communities with a population of 420,000, including the rural population of 380,000, with the Han Chinese making up the ethnic majority of residents. Xihe has a long history. Archeologists have discovered that the area has been settled for at least 7,000 years, after unearthing a New Stone Age human activity site in the region. Mount Qiuchi to the south of Xihe is known as the birth place of Fuxi, the first of the (possibly apocryphal) Three Sovereigns of ancient China, who reigned during the mid-29th century before the Common Era. Xihe was also the place where Zhuge Liang (181-234), a chancellor of the state of Shu Han (221-280) during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280) marched his army in to battles against Cao Cao (155-220), a warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Xihe is also the place where Du Fu (712-770), a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) passed in to southwest China's Sichuan. Despite all of the above, Xihe is best known for its well-preserved Qiqiao Festival, the comprehensive seasonal festivity incorporating tributes to the goddess, poetry, music, dancing, fine arts and handicrafts. The celebration starts on the eve of the first day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar and ends on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month. Young girls pray to Weaver Girl (a fairy from heaven, skillful at needlework, also known as the Queen of Skills) for wisdom, skills and virtue as well as a happy marriage and life. The Queen of Skills, an ideal figure based on Han Chinese culture and female aesthetic psychology, embodies traditional Chinese virtues and is a spiritual ballast for Chinese women from generation to generation, guiding them to grow into hard-working and kind-hearted people. Qiqiao beats all other festivals nationwide in terms of history, the quality of its singing and dancing performances, the sincerity of its participants, the unity of its different events, and its number of participants. The festival is known as a 'living fossil of ancient Chinese customs.' In October 2006, Xihe County was named 'Home to China's Qiqiao Culture' by the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society. In June 2008, Xihe Qiqiao Festival was added to the First National Intangible Culture Heritage List by the State Council. Since 2006, Xihe County has held four Qiqiao Cultural Tourism Festivals, playing an important role in preserving, protecting and developing traditional folk customs as well as playing a positive role in promoting the healthy growth of girls into adulthood and the construction of harmonious families. The Origin of Xihe Qiqiao Festival Qiqiao Festival is one of the most legendary traditional Chinese celebrations because of its profound folk culture connotations. According to expert textual research, the festival was the product of people's worship for their ancestors and the stars during China's agricultural development. Regarding ancestor worship, Qiqiao is a Qin cultural relic in Xihe County and Li County, for the river valley area in the north of Xihe was the birth place of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC), the first imperial dynasty of China and a great number of national cultural relics have been unearthed from the Qin Tombs in the Mount Dapuzi historic site, north of Xihe County. According to local legend, about 2,500 years ago, Lady Xiu, granddaughter of Zhuanxu, a mythological emperor of ancient China, devoured the egg of a black bird and gave birth to a son called Ye, the ancestor of the Qin people, as told in The Records of the Grand Historian, a comprehensive history of ancient China that covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (156 BC – 87 BC) in the 2nd century BC. As head of the Qin tribe, Lady Xiu was a key figure in the Qin's transition from matriarchal society to patriarchal society. Known for her weaving skills, Lady Xiu was said to be the prototype of Weaver Girl, who Xihe women regard as the Queen of Skills. For thousands of years, local people have celebrated Qiqiao Festival to show their worship for their ancestors, mainly in 12 townships and towns in Xihe County and eight ones in Li County, with the largest number of participants hitting more than 400,000. Regarding the worship of the stars, Xihe Qiqiao Festival is closely associated with a love story between the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd (a kind-hearted fellow from the earth). Vega and Altair, on opposite sides of the Milky Way, first appeared in The Classic of Poetry, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. Ancient people made a love story based on the two stars. According to the law of the heavens, the Weaver Girl (symbolizing Vega) and Cowherd (symbolizing Altair) fell in love with each other but couldn't get married because they were from different worlds. Hence, they were banished to opposite sides of the Silver River (symbolizing the Milky Way), and couldn't see each other but could feel each other's tears. Later, their loyalty to love moved tens of thousands of magpies to build a bridge for the Weaver Girl and Cowhand to meet each other. Finally, heaven was moved and the Cowhand and Weaver girl were allowed to meet each other on the seventh of the seventh lunar month. Their meeting date has been called Qixi or Double Seventh Festival. This love story has been passed down from generation to generation. Many ancient books and poems call the Milky Way Han, Tianhan, or Yinhan, which can be ascribed to the major river (Xihan River was originally named Han River) in the birth place of Qin. As ancient Qin people regarded Lady Xiu as the Weaver Girl, the river where she lived beside was thus called Han. In addition, the capital of Xihe County is called Hanyuan Town, which also proves that Xihe is one of the birth places of that love story. Qiqiao Festival is well preserved on a large scale in Xihe because of its stable agricultural and cultural society and self-sufficient economy as well as its comparatively isolated geographic environment and traffic. The worship ceremony is a key part in the celebration, which has various activities. For example, girls can stay outside overnight in groups, singing and dancing, making delicious food and displaying handicrafts in honor of their ancestors. Although parents were strict with girls in Chinese feudal society, they were allowed to go out and attend collective activities in the hope that girls could be endowed with wisdom and skills by the Queen of Skills at the worship ceremony. The stable social environment and people's longing for happy lives have led this folk custom to pass down from generation to generation. Besides, the isolated geographic environment and traffic have also kept Xihe away from the influence of other cultures. Located in the deep mountains, with limited traffic, in the southeast of Gansu Province, Xihe also stayed away from wars in ancient times. Dominated by its agricultural economy, Xihe has economically lagged behind in modern times but protected its various folk customs well. With its original magic, the Xihe Qiqiao culture has nowadays enriched local handicrafts and promoted tourism, and will beef up its economy in the future. Qiqiao's Influences on Xihe Women Qiqiao is indeed a Girls' Festival in Xihe. In the past, only unmarried women could take part in Qiqiao celebrations so that they could make friends, sing and dance, and exchange life skills to release their depressing feelings and show their talents. At the festival, young women pray to the Queen of Skills, hoping to become smart, skillful and popular girls. What's more, they can entertain themselves and expand their interpersonal relationships on their path to adulthood. Nowadays, young women still make up the majority of participants, but middle-aged and elderly women also take an active part, singing and dancing, talking and laughing, to reminisce about their happy girlhood and enjoy a happy life. Qiqiao has become an annual festival for all the women in Xihe. Qiqiao's influences on local women's growth are listed as follows: --Fostering Girls' Handicrafts. 'Qiao' in Qiqiao means a keen mind and dexterous hands. Local girls begin to learn spinning, embroidering, paper-cutting, writing, painting, and weaving and other skills under their mothers from a young age. During the seven-day and eight-night celebration, girls display their handicrafts. The most skillful girl earns acclaim from the elder generation and wins respect from other girls. --Developing Housekeeping Skills. 'Qiao' also represents good cooking skills. During the celebration, girls present their self-made guo, a kind of fried flour-made food, to the Queen of Skills. They also build a cooking stove to make dishes at the gathering. Girls with good cooking skills gain popularity from the elder generations and become competitive candidates when the elders select daughters-in-law. --Developing Artistic Skills. 'Qiao' requires being good at singing and dancing. As the celebration goes on day and night without stopping, girls' groups from different villages sing and dance for their fellow villagers. Talented girls usually attract attention from young men. --Carrying Forward Traditional Chinese Virtues. 'Qiao' also covers filial piety. Under the influence of Qiqiao culture, local girls absorb traditional Chinese virtues, such as independence, diligence and filial piety. Unmarried girls are well-behaved daughters of their parents, while married ones are filial and capable housewives guarding the harmony and happiness of their families. In modern society, Xihe women not only take over household chores, but also work at their positions to contribute to the construction of a harmonious society. --Expressing the Longing for Free Marriage. During the celebration, girls go out in groups, which was the only opportunity for Chinese girls to step out of their houses and show their looks and talents in public in Chinese feudal society. While girls show their singing and dancing skills, as well as their handicrafts, young boys and their mothers look for favorite girls among performers and girls also seek out desirable boys. Mothers usually ask matchmakers to propose a marriage. In a sense, girls can gain some freedom for their marriage. All in all, Qiqiao Festival is a great event to help girls grow up healthily and happily in China.
Summit forum on Qiqiao Girls Festival reveals fascinating ancient culture
Qiqiao, or the Qixi Festival, is considered by many to be the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day. In fact, the festival began as a celebration for girls and specifically for single girls. And as the day approaches, CCTV reporter Shen Li has been at the opening of the 5th Qiqiao Culture Summit Forum in Beijing to find out about this ancient tradition. Shen Li, Beijing, said, "Every year from the first day to the seventh day of the 7th month on the Chinese lunar year is the happiest times for the Qiqiao girls across China. That´s the time when they come together singing dancing and pleading with the Queen of Skills for intelligence, ingenuity, satisfying marriage and a happy life and that´s why we’re hosting this cultural forum, to promote this unique and fascinating culture."This is the only traditional festival dedicated to females in China’s 5000 year history. Qiqiao literally means to be pleading with Qiao Niangniang, the Queen of Skills. For seven days and eight nights, unmarried girls would follow a set of seven different rituals from welcoming the goddess to bidding farewell. This mystical culture owes its rich historical and cultural content to its home town, Longnan. Sun Xuetao, Party Secretary, Longnan City, Gansu Province, said, "The forum provides us with an excellent opportunity to introduce Longnan to the outside world. Longnan is the birth place of Chinese human beings ancestor Fuxi and also the cradle for the Qin Empire that united China and control China for the first time. We sincerely hope that friends from outside will visit Longnan and enjoy the unique charm of our very beautiful city." The worship of the Queen of Skills actually bears a striking similarity to the ancient Greeks worshipping the Goddess Athena, both pursuing an incarnation of beauty and wisdom. And the girl’s festival which is celebrated in other parts of Asia all derives from the Qiqiao Festival. Zhao Kuifu, Qiqiao Historian, said, "It’s truly the Chinese Girls Festival because only girls from 12 to 16 could participate. They’re not just hoping to be good at handiwork, but also for a happy life through their hard work and to take control of their own lives."Indeed, the ancient festival has been a pioneer in woman’s empowerment and now it shoulders a more important mission. Julia Broussard, Country Programme Manager, UN Women, said, "This forum is bringing us altogether to discuss how we can jointly overcome the still existing obstacles. To ensure that today’s girls, women of the future can be treated equal as men once they have grown up." This year the festival falls on August 13. The local government has prepared a series of activities including the Qiqiao customs photo contest and demonstration of traditional handicrafts, all to keep the Qiqiao traditions alive and living on.
Qiqiao Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day)
The Chinese Valentine's Day, also known as the Qiqiao Festival, is the most romantic holiday in Chinese history. Girls would pay most attention to this festival in the past. Legend has that on the 7th of July in Lunar Calendar, the Cowherd and the Weaving Girl will meet in the Milky River. The Cowherd and the Weaving Girl are folk names. They refer to two stars in Aquila and Lyra. According to legend, on the 7th of July in lunar calendar, the moon is approaching the Milky River and the light of the moon will shape the "magpie bridge" where the Cowherd and the Weaving Girl meet each other. Therefore, 7th of July is considered the Chinese Valentine's Day. In legend the Weaving Girl is clever in mind and skillful in hand. On this day, the ordinary girls will pray to her for intelligence and skills as well as happy marriages. Though the festival is regarded as a holiday for ladies, many parents will ask their un-married sons to worship the Cowherd. There is a saying that the Cowherd will help the men get good wives and secure them happy and harmonious marriages. So generally men will worship the Cowherd while the girls will worship the Weaving Girl. Guangzhou has been well-known for its festival atmosphere during the Qiqiao Festival. The Zhu village is reputed to be the First Qiqiao Village in China. Since 2005 it hosted the Guangzhou Qiqiao Cultural Festival and has become a cultural brand for Tianhe District and Guangzhou. In 2006, Guangzhou Qiqiao Festival is listed in the first group of the national intangible cultural heritage. Qiqiao features in Zhu Village: the meeting of ladies, showing the handicrafts of the ladies, seeing and worshipping the ladies. "Showing the handicrafts" had been very popular in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Now this activity has restored the old tradition of three stages: Southeast stage, No.7 stage and No.8 stage. Every year nearly 10 thousand visitors will take a look at this activity in Zhu village on Qiqiao Festival. Qiqiao Festival in Huangpu Qiqiao Festival in Huangpu is more related to the sea. It has a lot to do with harbor, wharf and fisherman. Qiqiao Festival in Liwan Liwan focuses on restoring the style of Xiguan (part of the old Guangzhou). So the Qiqiao festival here has combined the modernity, marine and industrial features as well as inclusiveness. Time: August every year Location: Zhu Village in Tianhe District, Nanhaishen (South Sea God) Temple in Huangpu District and Liwan Cultural Center
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 Both"Qixi festival"and"legendary story of Niulang and Zhinv"experienced a series evolutions, and then become to afterwards "Qiqiao Festival"or "Womens Day".
2 Now, the Qiqiao Festival is also called the Chinese Valentine's Day.
3 On Qiqiao Festival, if you are by yourself, please have a light makeup for yourself, because life needs to be continued.