Because of the legend of the cowherd weaver girl, the Tanabata Festival is mostly celebrated as Valentine's Day today, and in ancient times, the Tanabata Festival was also called the Beggars Festival. This is a festival dedicated to girls, and folk call it Daughter's Day. In different regions, the Beggar Festival also has different names, such as the Tangram Festival, the Seven Sisters Festival, the Seven Nianghui, the Tanabata Festival, the Cow and Bull Po Day, the Qiao Xi, and so on.
"Seven" is an important number in Chinese culture, and it is particularly closely related to celestial phenomena and calendars. The abacus beads are seven, the sun and moon plus the five planets are seven yao, and Japan still uses "seven yao" as the title of the week. Chinese people believe that the heavy day is very auspicious, such as February 2, March 3, September 9, and of course, July 7. "Seven" and "Ji" are harmonized, and Taiwanese call July an auspicious month, seven seven is ji ji, and seventy-seven years old is happy birthday. July 7 is a very happy day, but it is different from the New Year, it is a small joy with a smile, because it is a girl's festival.
Although there are no conveniences of modern life, there is neither light pollution in ancient times nor the cutting of the skyline by high-rise buildings, and the ancients were able to sit on the entire vast starry sky. Observing the beautiful starry sky was once the most important nocturnal entertainment and academic research of the ancestors. Many of the images, metaphors, and legends in traditional Chinese culture come from stargazing. Astrologically, July 7 is the day when Cowgirl and Vega look like they coincide. The star names of cowherds and weavers appear in the "Book of Poetry And Xiaoya", and at the latest in the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, the story of cowherds and weavers became popular in the folk. There are many versions of the story, the basic elements are similar, Vega as a bigger and brighter star, representing a fairy. The reason why she is called the Weaver Girl is because she weaves in the heavens, and it is said that the morning glow and sunset are all the works of the Weaver Girl.
The Book of Poetry (Chinese Classics Complete Annotated and Translated Series)
The Weaver Girl was the object of worship and prayer for the maidens of all dynasties. The girls all love such a poignant love story as the cowherd weaver girl Queqiao meeting, and they all hope that they will be skillful and happy for life. Tanabata, a special day in astrology, has evolved into the Beggars Festival- the reunion of the stars in the sky, and in addition to celebrating in the world, ask the weaver girl for a pair of skillful hands and a clever heart, so as to seek a good husband and wife, and a happy life.
There are many ways to beg, and many of them appear in the form of games, and everyone competes secretly. The most common is the moon piercing needle contest: under the moonlight, without lighting the lamp, who can wear the more and faster, the more "clever" there is. The Tang Dynasty has a poem called "Beggar Qiao": "Qixi tonight to see the blue sky, morning glory weaver girl across the river bridge." The family begged for the autumn moon and wore tens of thousands of red silks. "Wear tens of thousands of red silks" refers to this situation.
There are also pure luck, a few days ago, I bought or caught a small spider and put it in a small box, called "Qiao Spider". When tanabata opens at night, whoever can weave the most dense webs is the one who has the most "cleverness".
[Ming] "Han Palace Beggar QiaoTu" (partial), National Museum of China collection
There are also floating needles that rely half on technology and half luck. Hit a basin of water during the day, dry it in the sun for a while, and at night, after the moon comes out, throw the needle flat on the surface of the water, let it float, and judge whether the needle thrower has "cleverness" by observing the projection of the needle at the bottom of the basin. What kind of water is exquisite, well water, lake water, pool water, river water, rainwater, the buoyancy of various kinds of water is slightly different, to choose strong buoyancy, some also use two or even several kinds of water mixed together. It also makes sense to leave the water in the sun for a day and a half, which can form a thin film on the surface of the water to facilitate the floating needle. When casting the needle, you must also have skills, you can not let the needle directly into the bottom of the water, you have to let it float up, and can float to a suitable angle to form a "smart" shape. As for what kind of "coincidence" is obtained, the room for discussion is greater, and it is also fun. The state of floating up is difficult to fully grasp, it can be said that it is encounterable but not sought, and there is an element of luck. You can imagine the scene at that time, a group of girls around the water chattering, discussing what the projection looks like, which is also a rare boudoir pleasure.
"Dream of the Red Chamber" is a book about her daughter, and naturally mentions the Beggar Festival several times. The reason why Wang Xifeng's daughter is called Qiao'er is precisely because she was born on the seventh day of the first month of July.
Dream of the Red Chamber (a must-read classic for traditional culture in primary and secondary schools)
(This article is selected from "Food, Clothing, Shelter and Travel in Ancient Poetry")
Dianshuying entered Jingdong to buy the book
Naturalist in ancient poems [all 5 volumes set] Geographical attractions in ancient poems + animals and plants + scientific phenomena + historical allusions + food, clothing, shelter and transportation
(Co-ordinator: One North; Editor: Bai Xinhui)