QiXi – Double Seventh Festival

Today at the Chinese course we learnt about festivals and this caught my attention, is called QiXi – the Double Seventh Festival and the Seventh Night Festival, Qixi takes place on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month (usually August) in China and is similar to Valentine’s day

The legend of the Weaving Maid and the Cowherd

There was once a kind and good-hearted cowherd named Niulang. His parents died when he was little, so he lived with his brother and sister-in-law. However, his sister-in-law disliked him so much that living with her became unbearable, so he left home with only an old ox to keep him company.

Niulang built a small cottage and tried to make a life for himself. Even though he was often tired and hungry, he always found time to take care of his old ox.

One day, the ox suddenly began to speak. It said that it used to be the star Taurus, but was punished when it stole some seeds of grain to give to men. Because it had disobeyed the rule of the Heavenly Palace, it was sent to earth in the form of an ox.
Love at first sight

Near Niulang’s cottage was a sacred pond where young goddesses bathed. The ox took Niulang there and told him that the most beautiful girl in the universe, Zhinu, would go there. If Niulang hid her clothes, she would stay and be his wife.

Zhinu was renowned not only for her beauty but for her skills as a weaver and seamstress as well. She was also the granddaughter of the Jade Emperor.

Niulang hid in the grasses and waited for the goddesses. When they had taken off their robes and gone into the pond, Niulang went and stole Zhinu’s clothes. This scared the other goddesses who ran away and left Zhinu alone.

Niulang returned to give her clothes back. The two fell in love at first sight and were soon married.
In pursuit of the Empress

When the old ox was about to die, it told Niulang that its hide could help a man fly up to heaven. It told him to preserve its hide properly. Niulang and Zhinu lived happily for many years, and were blessed with twins, a son whom they called Brother Gold and a daughter called Sister Jade.

Their happiness was cut short, though, when the Jade Emperor found out that his granddaughter had married a mortal. He ordered the Empress to fetch Zhinu.

Niulang came home one day and saw his children crying. All they could tell him was that an old woman had come to take their mother away. He realised what had happened and immediately went to take the hide of the old ox.

Niulang put his two children in a basket which he slung over his shoulder. They then flew off in pursuit of the Empress.

The Empress became angry when she saw Niulang and his children. She slashed across the sky with her hairpin and a raging river flowed in the heavens. This created Tian He, or the Heavenly River, which separated the lovers.

Niulang and his children could only weep bitterly. Moved by their sorrow, the Jade Emperor turned them into stars and allowed them to meet once each year via a bridge made from magpies.

 

Taken from http://gbtimes.com/life/qixi-festival-and-story-chinese-valentines-day