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Date: 7th day of the 7th lunar month lunar month
Activities: In the past, girls would conduct a ceremony to beg Zhinu for wisdom, dexterity and a satisfying marriage in the future.
The Double Seventh Festival, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is a traditional festival full of romance. It originated from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 220 A.D.) Qi Xi is the Chinese equivilant of the "Valentine's Day". Legend has it that long, long ago, there was an honest and kind-hearted orphane named Niu Lang (Cowhand). He fell in love with Zhi Nu (Weaver Maid), a fairy, also the 7th daughter of Emperor of Heaven. They got married in secret on earth. The Emperor found the sky's not that beautiful as before without the 7th daughter weaving clouds and rainbows. He wanted his daughter's grandmother to find the missing daughter and to bring her back. While the 7th princess was flying to the Heaven with her grandmother, the cowboy wore the ox hide, took his children in two bamboo baskets with his wife's old fairy clothes and chased after his wife in the sky. To stop him, the grandmother made a milky way in the sky with her hairpin, which kept them separated on the two ends of the milky way. Their loyalty and love touched magpies and many of them gathered and formed a bridge for the couple to meet in the evening of Qi Xi (the 7th day of the 7th lunar month), which is the day the Emperor allowed them to meet once a year. Sadly, this tradition in China is dying, as more youngsters are more aware of Valentine's Day.