Double Seventh Festival (The Milky Way Festival, Chinese Valentines Day) - The Cowherd and the Girl Weaver
The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar year is the day when the legendary Cowherd and the Girl Weaver meet in the Milky Way. On that night, women crochet with colourful silk threads. They pull threads through seven-holed comb-like needles, or needles mad of gold, silver or copper. They place fruits and melon in their yards, offerings for which they hope the Girl Weaver will reward them with skill in needlework. They are happy if they find webs woven by spiders on the fruit because they think this is a good omen and that the Girl Weaver has agreed to fulfill their wishes.
Zong Lin (Southern Dynasties, the State of Liang) – Stories of the Jing and Chu Times
The Double Seventh Festival is also know as ‘maiden’s day’ and ‘daughter’s day’. It was a festival for women in ancient China. The ceremonies on that day were held for the purpose of seeking dexterity for girls and married women.
The Cowherd and the Girl Weaver: in Chinese legend, the Girl Weaver was the Jade Emperor’s grand-daughter. She was clever and deft and good at tailoring. After marrying the Cowherd on the west bank of the Heavenly River (the Milky Way), she stopped sewing. This enraged the Jade Emperor. He ordered them to separate. The Girl Weaver was sent back to the east bank of the river. They were allowed to meet only once a year on July the 7th of the lunar calendar. The Girl Weaver is equivalent to the Vega and the Cowherd is equivalent to the Altair.
In this image we can see the "Summer Triangle", a giant triangle in the sky composed of the three bright stars Vega (top left), Altair (lower middle) and Deneb (far left) - Click to Enlarge
;)
China Daily - Special Coverage: Love is in the air
The Double Seventh Festival, July 7 on the lunar calendar, now popularly known as Chinese Valentine's Day, gained popularity only in recent years, thanks to China's increasing commercialism that never stops making profit from tradition, according to researchers.
Chu Dongai, a Phd in the studies of folklore at South China University of Technology, said the festival should be called "Girls Day." In ancient society, there was a tradition of single girls praying for wisdom, skills and deft needlework to the fairy Weaving Girl, heroine in a popular love story with a cowherd from the mortal world.
The opinion is supported by Zeng Yingfeng, chairman of Guangzhou Folk Artists Association. Although the festival is related to the folk story between the Weaving Girl and the cowherd, it also showed the expectation of love and marriage of ancient society.
People seem to care less about the cultural or historical significance of the festival, and they only want a reason to celebrate, a girl said about the ardor of the newly born Chinese Valentine's Day. (China Daily)
It turns out that the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl (牛郎织女) first took shape in the Eastern Han 东汉 dynasty, in the "Nineteen Ancient Poems" compiled by an anonymous scholar. The poem is:
迢迢牵牛星，皎皎河汉女。
纤纤擢素手，札札弄机杼。
终日不成章，泣涕零如雨。
河汉清且浅，相去复几许？
盈盈一水间，脉脉不得语.
Poem + Pinyin
迢迢牵牛星， 皎皎河汉女。
tiáo tiáo qiān niú xīng jiǎo jiǎo hé hàn nǚ
纤纤擢素手， 札札弄机杼。
xiān xiān zhuó sù shǒu zhá zhá nòng jī zhù
终日不成章， 泣涕零如雨。
zhōng rì bù chéng zhāng qì tì líng rú yǔ
河汉清且浅， 相去复几许？
hé hàn qīng qiě jiān xiāng qù fù jǐ xǔ
盈盈一水间， 脉脉不得语
yíng yíng yī shuǐ jiān mò mò bù dé yù
Poem + Pinyin + Basic English Translation
The poem is all about the goddess (the weaver girl) missing the cowherd. From this poem the legend evolved.
Note the structure of the poem - 4 Chinese characters + 4 Chinese characters - below the Chinese characters we have the Pinyin - below the Pinyin we have the literal translation of the words - below the literal translation we have the meaning of the words - you need to read across the two elements as one line to see the meaning.
迢迢牵牛星， 皎皎河汉女。
tiáo tiáo qiān niú xīng jiǎo jiǎo hé hàn nǚ
Remote Altair star clear and bright river Han Dynasty woman
The remote Altair star a beautiful Han woman
(Altair is the cowherder) (and a beautiful Han woman)
纤纤擢素手， 札札弄机杼。
xiān xiān zhuó sù shǒu zhá zhá nòng jī zhù
Slender select hand (zha zha is onomatopoeia) using a loom
A slender hand without adornment zha zha is the sound the loom makes
终日不成章， 泣涕零如雨。
zhōng rì bù chéng zhāng qì tì líng rú yǔ
All day unable to do anything to sob like rain
(Because she is missing the (So she sobs)
herder)
河汉清且浅， 相去复几许？
hé hàn qīng qiě jiān xiāng qù fù jǐ xǔ
River clear and not too deep each other go return when
River clear and shallow what time can we see each other again?
盈盈一水间， 脉脉不得语
yíng yíng yī shuǐ jiān mò mò bù dé yù
Full and clear one river gap/space affection/loving must not tell to
There is a full river between us we cannot talk to each other about our love.
(The Milky Way)
