Tanabata, also known as Qiaoqi Festival. Once upon a time, a woman without talent was virtuous. If she was good at embroidery, she wouldn't worry about marrying a good family. No matter a big girl or a little daughter-in-law, they all hope to have a pair of skillful hands like a weaver girl, so that they can make better needlework to please their husbands and aunts.
Every year on Tanabata, women in the Tang Dynasty put up incense tables, offered melons and fruits and carried out various begging activities. When night falls, the person who can't wait to put the needle into the moon can quickly and accurately put the thin thread through the needle nose (known as the person who has a golden needle in ancient times) and continuously pass through seven pieces in the faint moonlight, which is called skillful hand. Those who can't wear it have to work hard for next year. Coincidence or not, all women hope that Yue Bai will thank the Weaver Girl and that she can teach her some embroidery skills in her busy schedule.
Such activities often stay up all night, and Tanabata in the Tang Dynasty is basically a carnival night for women. Luo Yin, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, wrote Tanabata. The story goes like this: The winding Milky Way is in the sky, and the family held a red banquet with a smile. We should thank Nvzhu for writing Tan Lang's wonderful article. Fragrant curtains are clustered in rows, and gold needles are put on to worship Chanjuan. If you don't report the copper pot, you will know, and you will be sad for another year.
Unmarried women want to be smart, but they should marry the right person. Weaver Yue Bai is actually praying for her future life. Cui Hao also has a Qixi poem handed down from generation to generation: Chang 'an City, the moon is like practice, and every family holds a needle and thread this night. Yu Pei knew it, but heaven and earth didn't meet. Long letter deep cloudy night retreat, Yao Taiwan golden pavilion number fireflies. Banky was preoccupied that night, and Hehan watched the bullfight in the middle of the night. "Every family holds a needle and thread this night", which shows the prosperity of women's begging skills in the Tang Dynasty and the widespread spread of the love story of cowherd and weaver girl. Better to be born well than to marry well. With a proud needlework in his hand, the matchmaker came uninvited.
In order to be technically excellent, women in the Tang Dynasty also worked hard. On Valentine's Day in China, they should not only have skills, but also eat some fruits called "skill food". Every Tanabata, the business of selling fruits is extremely hot, and all kinds of voices of "buy, buy, buy" fill the streets. Li Shangyin wrote in Tanabata: "There are thousands of flowers and fruits, and there are countless neighbors."
There are many ways for people in the Tang Dynasty to be clever, and some people use spiders to take advantage of cleverness. At this time, women are brave and fearless, and they will catch spiders and put them in boxes. By the next morning, it would be a coincidence if the spider made a web in the box. The density of the knots is much more clever. If it is sparse, more spiders will be caught in the second year (is this how thousands of spiders in Li Yin are trained? Mother-in-law Jinhua always feels stupid, which is probably related to this. People without boxes simply put spiders on fruits or flowers. If spiders are willing to give face, it means that it is smart to weave webs on them.
Song Wenzhi, a poet in the early Tang Dynasty, wrote in the poem Tanabata: Passing on the immortal and the star, the Shuijiao annual meeting. Stop and borrow crickets, and be smart to pay spiders ... Besides being clever, there is also an important custom of Tanabata, which is "revealing clothes". Take out the clothes to dry while the weather is fine. The ancients talked about science in addition to superstition. Women hang clothes skillfully, and men take out books to hang them, which is called "uncovering books". Those who have no books and wives have to wash and sleep after a hard day's work.