The Double Seventh Festival七夕节

The Double Seventh Festival is known as Chinese Valentine’s Day, which falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. It is a traditional festival of romance, and important to ladies. Chinese people are familiar with the story behind the festival.

A long time ago, there was a poor cowherd(牧牛者), Niulang. His parents died and he lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law, both of whom are mean and treated Niulang badly. They kicked Niulang out of the house and only gave him some worn clothes and an old ox.

Niulang built a cottage at the foot of a mountain and took good care of that old ox. One day the ox spoke to him and told that it used to be Taurus①(金牛), a star in the night sky but was punished due to his violation of the law of the Heavenly Palace. The old ox told Niulang that some goddesses would come to the pond not far away from his cottage to have a bath. Zhinu was one of the goddesses and the most beautiful daughter of the Jade Emperor in Heaven. If he could take her clothes away, she would stay and become his wife.

Niulang listened to the old ox and went to the pond on the day. When the goddesses came and took off their silk ropes then jumped into the water. Niulang found Zhinu’s clothes and hid away. Other goddesses witnessed Niulang and dressed up quickly and flew away, only Zhinu stayed. He had adored her from the first moment he saw her. They looked into each other's eyes and fell in love. Zhinu told the poor cowherd that she would be his wife.

  They soon got married and lived together in that cottage. Niulang worked hard to grow crops and Zhinu raised silkworms. They lived a simple but happy life. Zhinu gave birth to a boy and girl afterward.

  One day the old ox died and told the couple that they should preserve its hide(牛皮) and it would be of great use in the future. At the same time, the angry Jade Emperor and the Queen of Heaven found that Zhinu married a man and had babies. The Queen flew down to earth with her soldiers and took Zhinu away. Niulang came back home and the children cried and told him what had happened. Niulang remembered what the old ox told him and wore the hide of the old ox. After he placed the children in baskets on a pole to carry on his shoulder, they flew up into the sky with the help of the magic hide. The Queen noticed that Niulang was following them and she got angry. With a wave of her arm, a raging(猛烈的) torrent immediately appeared between her group and Niulang. Niulang could not cross the wide river (the Milky Way). Heartbroken, Niulang and his children could only look and weep bitterly. The Jade Emperor was moved by the sound of their crying and decided to allow Niulang and Zhinu to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

  This sad love story was passed down from ancient times. Magpies were rarely seen on the double seventh day since most of them fly to the Milky River to build a bridge for the annual meeting of Niulang and Zhinu.

  In ancient times, the double seventh day was an important festival for ladies. No matter poor or rich, they would put on their best clothes and place an incense burner(香炉) in the courtyard and lay out some fruit as offerings. Then all the ladies in the family would kowtow(叩首) to Niulang and Zhinu and pray for ingenuity(心灵手巧).

   

Abridged and revised from

http://www.easytourchina.com/fact-v357-the-double-seventh-festival

Notes:

① Taurus: 金牛座；（占星术中的）金牛宫，整个浩瀚星空被分为十二宫，金牛座是十二宫的第二个星座。