After historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", making it a festival symbolizing love, thus being regarded as the most romantic traditional festival in China, and even having the cultural meaning of "China Valentine's Day" in contemporary times. The customs in Tanabata mainly include: Xiangqiao Festival, taking dew, worshipping Seven Sisters, fighting skillfully, begging for marriage, swimming in Seven Sisters water, having children, storing water in Seven Sisters Festival, celebrating Niu Qingsheng's birthday, paying tribute to the Seven Bridges, welcoming immortals, worshiping cowherd, worshiping kuixing, worshiping mother in bed, dyeing nails, watching stars in Seven Sisters Festival, listening to whispers, washing water and watching movies, tying red headbands and shampooing girls. I think there are four customs worth mentioning on Valentine's Day in China. Let's take a look:
? One of the customs of Tanabata: Needle-piercing for cleverness?
This is the earliest way to beg for cleverness, which began in the Han Dynasty and flowed to later generations. This was a custom in China when he was twenty years old. It is held on July 7th every year. On the night of Chinese Valentine's Day, a woman holding a five-color silk thread and a nine-hole needle (or a five-hole needle or a seven-hole needle) arranged continuously passes through the silk thread quickly and completely, which is called "Qiao". ? It shows the wisdom and life ambition of the working people in ancient China.
"Miscellanies of Xijing" said: "Women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles in Jinkai Building on July 7, and people have the ambition of Xi." The Chronicle of Jingchu Years Old by Liang Zongmou of the Southern Dynasties said: "On July 7th, it was a woman of Xijia family, who was wearing a colorful building with seven holes, or with gold and silver as needles." "Geographical Records" said: "Emperor Wu of Qi began to visit the city on the first floor, and on July 7, the imperial secretary tried to pierce the needle many times. The world calls it the needle-piercing building. " The Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On Qixi Festival, the palace was made of brocade, which was hundreds of feet high and could beat dozens of people in the world. Chen baked melons and fruits with wine, set a banquet, worshipped cows and girls, and each of his concubines wore a nine-hole needle, with five-color lines facing the moon. This is a wonderful time. It's fun to play the song of Qing business. The home of the natives is effective. " Yuan Taozong Yi's Record of Ye Ting in Yuanshi County said: "Chinese Valentine's Day is a place of ingenuity. In the evening, the ladies-in-waiting went on stage to wear Kyubi no Youko needles with colored silk. The person who finishes first is smart, and the person who finishes late is called a loser. Everyone contributed a gift. "
There is a special way of begging for cleverness in Begging for Cleverness Festival. The most famous way is to ask for cleverness by threading needles, that is, whoever wears needles quickly will be "clever", and those who wear them slowly will be called "clever". The loser will give the prepared gifts to the clever people. On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, that is, Valentine's Day (or Jojo Festival) in China, according to tradition, folk women in China will hold a banquet in the court, bow down to Vega devoutly, and beg for their intelligence and superb female skills.
The second custom of tanabata: should spiders be smart?
This is also an early way of seeking cleverness, and its popularity is a little later than that of seeking cleverness with needles, which generally began in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Liang Zonggu of the Southern Dynasties said "A Record of Jingchu Times"; "In the evening, Chen Guaguo begged for cleverness in court. If you have a happy subnet on melon, you think it is corresponding. "
The Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On July 7, we all caught spiders in small boxes until dawn; Think of cobwebs as sparse and dense. Secret people have many clever words, while rare people have few clever words. So are folk works. " China in Tokyo, written by Meng Yuanyuan, a poet of the Song Dynasty, said that on the seventh day of July, "Put a spider in the zygote and watch it every other day. If the net is round, it is just a coincidence. " Song Zhou Mi's "When I was one year old" said; "How long does it take to store small spiders in the house and wait for the density of the net?" Tomita Rucheng's "Pleasure of Xi Tide" said that Tanabata "put spiders in a small box and observe the density of the net the next morning." It can be seen that the methods of testing ingenuity in past dynasties are different. The existence of the visual network in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the thinness of the visual network in the Tang Dynasty, and the roundness of the visual network in the Song Dynasty, followed the customs of the Tang Dynasty in later generations.
The so-called "spiders should be clever" means putting some melons and fruits (mainly cantaloupes, golden melons, appropriate fruits, peanuts, red dates and so on). ) on the fruit bowl, it is usually prepared by adults before using needles to get clever. After the "needlework", everyone opened their eyes to see if there was a "spider" weaving a web on the fruit bowl. Whoever finds it first will be lucky.
The so-called happy spider is actually a little spider as big as a grain of rice. At the turn of summer and autumn, you can often see it on some flowers and trees. Occasionally, someone climbs on others or is found in the house, which is said to be a sign of happy events. Usually it will be released very carefully, and everyone will not kill it easily.
However, it is not easy to find the trace of this spider on the fruit bowl. Sometimes, in order to get the fruits and vegetables early, one of the children will secretly grab one and put it on the fruit bowl. In fact, adults also know that children "find" spiders, so they put melons and fruits in their hands and say, "Eat, eat, get smarter every year."
? The third custom of tanabata: putting a needle to measure cleverness?
This is a variation of the custom of needlework on Qixi, which originated from needlework and is different from needlework. This is a popular Valentine's Day custom in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Dong and Yu Yizheng's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" said: "On the afternoon of July 7th, we lost a clever needle. When a woman comes into contact with water, the water film looks strange, and the embroidery needle floats and looks at the shadow of the underwater needle. There are clouds, flowers, birds and animals, shoes, scissors and eggplant shadows, which are called clever begging; Its shadow is as thick as a hammer, as thin as silk and as straight as axis wax, which is wrong. " According to Zhili, in Liangxiang County (now southwest of Beijing), "On July 7th, women begged for cleverness, threw needles into the water, and inspected their work by the shadow of the sun." Please quote ten thousand miscellaneous notes in Textual Research on Old News in the Sunlight: "On July 7th, Yan Dou women threw small needles into the water. Or scattered like a flower, moving like a cloud, as thin as a line and as thick as a cone, all because of the ingenuity of the diviner. "
"Needle throwing test": first, prepare a basin, put it in the patio, and pour in "Yuanyang water", that is, mix the water taken during the day with the water taken at night. However, river water and well water are often mixed and poured into pots. Pots and water should stay overnight in the open air, and then the next day, the seventh day of July, the sun shines brightly, and you can "experiment" at noon or afternoon. It turned out that the water in the basin was exposed to the sun for a long time, and a thin film was faintly formed on the surface. So, take the lead (that is, sewing needle) and gently lay it flat on the water, so that the needle will not sink, and the needle shadow will appear underwater. If this needle shadow is straight, it is a failure of "begging for cleverness". If the needle shadow forms various shapes, or bends, or has thick heads and thin heads, or other patterns,
China has the custom of throwing needles to test the dexterity, which is held on the seventh day of July every year. It is a variation of needlework custom in China on Valentine's Day, which originated from needlework and is different from needlework. It is a popular custom of Valentine's Day in China in Ming and Qing Dynasties, which shows the wisdom and life wishes of the ancient working people in China.
? The fourth custom of Tanabata: Worship the Weaver Girl?
"Worship the Weaver Girl" is purely a matter for girls and young women. Most of them make an appointment with five or six people, at most a dozen people, with friends or neighbors in advance to hold it together. The ceremony is to lay a table in the moonlight, and put tea, wine, fruit, five sons (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds) and other sacrifices on the table. There are also some flowers, tied with red paper, inserted in the bottle, with a small incense burner in front. Then, the young women and girls who make an appointment to attend the worship of the Weaver Maid will fast for one day, take a bath and come to their host's house on time. After burning incense in front of the case, everyone will sit around the table and meditate on their thoughts while eating peanuts and melon seeds. If a girl wants to be beautiful or marry a husband, and a young woman wants to have a baby early, she can silently pray to the Weaver Girl. Play until midnight.
Weaver Girl, also known as Seven Sisters, Seven-Star Empress, The fairy lady and Seven-Niang Mother. July 7th is her birthday. "Worship the Weaver Girl" is purely a beautiful girl's business. Before the founding of New China, Tanabata was a grand festival for women. In the old society, women begged Qi Jie to teach her clever skills, but in fact, the so-called "begging for cleverness" was just "fighting cleverness". Most beautiful girls will make an appointment with five or six people, at most a dozen people, with their friends or neighbors in advance to co-host. The ceremony was held in the moonlight, with tea and wine on the table. Fruits, five sons (longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, melon seeds) and other sacrifices; There are also some flowers, tied with red paper, inserted in the bottle, with a small incense burner in front. Then, the beautiful girls who are scheduled to attend the worship of the Weaver Maid will fast for one day, take a bath and come to the host's house on time. After burning incense in front of the case, everyone will sit around the table, eating peanuts and melon seeds, and meditating on their thoughts in front of the Vega constellation. If a girl wants to be beautiful or marry a husband, and a young woman wants to have a baby early, she can silently pray to the Weaver Girl. Play until midnight. Different places have different characteristics in the celebration ceremony of "Seven Sisters's birthday". ?
In southern Fujian and Taiwan Province, it is called "Seven Mothers Worship", and it is also called Seven-Star Queen, Seven-Star Lady and Seven-Mother Lady. Qixi is Qi's birthday, and it is very popular among the people to worship Qi as an idol to protect children's safety and health. On this day every year, people go to Qiniangma Temple in groups of three and five, offering flowers, fruits, powders and sacrifices. On this day, a "rite of passage" is also popular in Taiwan Province Province, that is, when a child reaches the age of 15, his parents will lead him to the Seven Mothers Temple to reward him for protecting his child through childhood, childhood and adolescence. On this day, Tainan will hold a rite of passage for a child aged 16 who is "sixteen". Some parents, in addition to paying homage to the "Seven Mothers" on Tanabata, specially invited relatives and friends to celebrate their children's adult ceremony. Although the folk Tanabata in southern Fujian and Taiwan Province Province is not very particular, it attaches great importance to the custom of health food. On the occasion of Tanabata, almost every household will buy Chinese medicine gentlemen and pomegranates.
Valentine's Day in China is a festival to pray for happiness in marriage and pursue love. On the night of Tanabata, the girls will put the fruits, flowers and some handicrafts picked at home in front of the case, above the case table and on the case table in the courtyard, praying silently in their hearts and wishing on the moon. One is to beg for wisdom from the Weaver Girl, and the other is to beg for the happiness of marriage from the Weaver Girl.