By Carol Song, Trinity College Student
Did you know that Saturday, 7th August, is a special day? It’s a festival! The name of it is Qixi, which is a traditional Chinese festival and people still celebrate it nowadays.
Nowadays, Chinese couples love meeting each other and exchanging small gifts. This is because many people need to buy gifts before that day. So, many online shops have discount promotions and become a shopping festival. Some people eat relevant desserts on that day, too. The dessert for Qixi Festival is called "Qiaoguo", made of flour, milk and sugar and have various shapes. It is delicious and quite loved by young children.
Image via https://img.uooyoo.com/img2016/8/2/2016080262981437.jpg
Qixi Festival is from an ancient love story between a poor man and a celestial princess. The princess kept doing her work-- weaving the pink clouds for the world every day. It was so boring to do the same things year after year, so one day, she went to the world without permission and met the poor man. Although the man only had an old buffalo, the celestial princess did not despise him and they fell in love soon after. Then, they married and had two children, living quite happily. However, the celestial royals found her missing and forced the couple to separate. The princess was taken back while the poor man stayed in the world. Both of them were extremely grieved and in sorrow. The princess could not stop crying and the poor man stared at the sky with their children every day. The celestial empress was highly moved by their insistence, and allowed them to meet each other once a year. The magpies build up a bridge from the land to the sky to help them meet. It is said that the Qixi Festival is the day for their meeting. What a romantic day!
In ancient times, it was a festival for girls. They prayed and hoped they could do weaving as well as the princess. While it is more like a Chinese Valentine's Day now.
There are many works of literature and art based on this, such as the pictures. In addition, ancient Chinese named two stars by their names.
Image via https://sw.cool3c.com/user/100672/2019/0abbb0fc-163c-4cee-8775-b1ad374762e3.jpg?fit=max&w=2400&q=80
Hope this small introduction brings you some interest and here’s an additional video to further elaborate on Qixi! https://youtu.be/659OFr6qIv8