Know about the story and the festival of Chinese Valentine day

Chinese Valentine day is celebrated on 7th day of 7th lunar month of Chinese calendar. There is a famous love story behind the celebration of this day in the country. This famous love story is about 7th daughter of heaven emperor and an orphaned cowherd. The emperor’s daughter was good at weaving and was known as weaving maid. She lived on the east bank of heavenly river. She used to spend her time weaving clothes for gods and goddess. The heavenly mother took pity on her and allowed her to marry a cowherd boy, who used to live on west bank of the same river.

They both lived happily after marriage, but she stopped weaving, which angered the Heavenly mother. She kidnapped the cowherd and took her back across the river. Now, they were allowed to meet only once in a year.

According to Chinese myth, if you look up in the sky on this day, you can see Vega star, which move across a milky way to meet Altair star. It is believed that this Vega star is a weaver that cross heavenly river to meet cowherd. This day of their meeting is celebrated as a Chinese Valentine day.

The festival of Chinese Valentine day

In order to celebrate Chinese Valentine day, people in love visit the temple of Matchmaker and pray for their love and marriages in China. Those, who are single, visit and pray for their luck of love. . This temple is believed to be auspicious with regard to couple marriage.

Chinese valentine day is also known as The Daughter’s festival. Some years back, many Chinese girls started enhancing their handcrafting skills. The dexterity in this field is believed to be auspicious for the future family. Some unmarried Chinese girls pray the Vega star the whole night, to bless them to become smarter. There is a belief prevailing in the country that when the Vega star is high up in the sky, the girls can make a test by putting a needle on the water surface. If the needle does not sink, the girl is supposed to be smart enough and ready to be married. The girls can ask for a wish, but only one per year.

There are many more myths, related to this festival. These myths are spread in the entire country. Some of them are as follows:-

• Chinese people believe that decorating flowers on the Ox’s horn enable you to avoid disaster. It is believed to be a blessing from an Altair star.
• Women wash their hair on the night of this day with the hope that they will get fresh and shiny outlook.
• Children keep some water in the open backyard and wash their face with the hope of becoming smart and beautiful.  
• Girls throw five different colour ropes on the roof of magpie (a bridge used by weaving maid). It is believed that Magpie will carry them for the construction of the bridge.

 
Thus, this festival, the symbol of love, carries lot of myths and associated beliefs with it.