The 7th Day of the 7th Month of the year is called Festival of Qi Xi Jie in china and sometimes it was called “Chinese Valentine’s Day”. This festival comes from a beautiful story.
Long, long ago there was an honest and tolerant farmer named Niulang, who had lost his parents in his childhood. He lived with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law treated him badly and often made him to do lots of work. One day, she gave Niulang 9 oxen and told him that he could back home only when the amount was 10 oxen. Niulang was forced to leave and lived alone.
One day some fairies in the sky flew down to swim in the river. Niulang met Zhinv with the help of the old ox. Later, Zhinv came to the man’s world and became Niulang’s wife. Later after their marriage, they have one boy and one girl. They were having a happy life together.
Good life always won’t last long. Their marriage is not permitted between mortals and immortals. The Lady Queen Mother came to the man’s world and seized Zhinv back to the sky.
Niulang didn’t give up. He flies to Zhinu’s side with the help of the magic ox but at that time, the Lady Queen Mother appeared again, she used a hairpin to draw the Milky Way across the sky to separate the couple forever.
Niulang and Zhinv couldn’t meet with each other except crying face to face along the Milky Way. Their love made magpie moved and millions of magpies came and became a bridge to let them meet with each other. The Lady Queen Mother then allowed them to meet in the bridge on the 7th day in July.
This is the origin of Chinese Valentine’s Day
If you want to know more holidays and festivals in China you could go echinacities.com. You would find more information in the site.
