The Double Seventh Festival, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is a traditional festival full of romance. It often goes into August in the Gregorian calendar
This festival is in mid-summer when the weather is warm and the grass and trees reveal their luxurious greens. At night when the sky is dotted with stars, and people can see the Milky Way spanning from the north to the south. On each bank of it is a bright star, which see each other from afar. They are the Cowherd and Weaver Maid, and about them there is a beautiful love story passed down from generation to generation.
Long, long ago, there was an honest and kind-hearted fellow named Niu Lang (Cowhand). His parents died when he was a child. Later he was driven out of his home by his sister-in-law. So he lived by himself herding cattle and farming. One day, a fairy from heaven Zhi Nu (Weaver Maid) fell in love with him and came down secretly to earth and married him. The cowhand farmed in the field and the Weaver Maid wove at home. They lived a happy life and gave birth to a boy and a girl. Unfortunately, the God of Heaven soon found out the fact and ordered the Queen Mother of the Western Heavens to bring the Weaver Maid back.
With the help of celestial cattle, the Cowhand flew to heaven with his son and daughter. At the time when he was about to catch up with his wife, the Queen Mother took off one of her gold hairpins and made a stroke. One billowy river appeared in front of the Cowhand. The Cowhand and Weaver Maid were separated on the two banks forever and could only feel their tears. Their loyalty to love touched magpies, so tens of thousands of magpies came to build a bridge for the Cowhand and Weaver Maid to meet each other. The Queen Mother was eventually moved and allowed them to meet each year on the 7th of the 7th lunar monthh. Hence their meeting date has been called "Qi Xi" (Double Seventh).
Scholars have shown the Double Seventh Festival originated from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD220). Historical documents from the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD371-420) mention the festival, while records from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) depict the grand evening banquet of Emperor Taizong and his concubines. By the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties, special articles for the "Qi Xi" were seen being sold on markets in the capital. The bustling markets demonstrated the significance of the festival.
Today some traditional customs are still observed in rural areas of China, but have been weakened or diluted in urban cities. However, the legend of the Cowhand and Weaver Maid has taken root in the hearts of the people. In recent years, in particular, urban youths have celebrated it as Valentine's Day in China. As a result, owners of flower shops, bars and stores are full of joy as they sell more commodities for love.
Legend has it that on this evening, Niulang, or the Cowherd, and Zhinu, or the Weaving Maid, meet each other for their annual tryst on a bridge formed by sympathetic magpies over the Milky Way. If it happens to rain that night, a Chinese elder might say it is Zhinu weeping after meeting her husband Niulang on the Milky Way.
传说每年农历7月7日的晚上，牛郎(牧牛人)和织女(编织女工)会在由喜鹊搭建在银河之上的桥上重逢。如果那天下雨，中国的老人就会告诉你，牛郎织女在银河两岸流泪。
This day used to be commemorated as a festival for girls and also for young people in love. As the story goes, there was once a cowherd, Niulang, who lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law. But his sister-in-law disliked and abused him, and the boy was forced to leave home with only an old cow for company.
The cow, however, was a former god who had violated celestial rules and had been sent to earth in bovine form. One day he led Niulang to a lake where fairies came bathe on earth; among them was Zhinu, the most beautiful girl and a skilled seamstress. The two fell in love at first sight and were soon married. They had a son and a daughter, and their happy life was held up as an example for hundreds of years in China.
Yet in the eyes of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Deity in Taoism, marriage between a mortal and a fairy was strictly forbidden. He sent his empress to fetch Zhinu. Niulang grew desperate when he discovered Zhinu had been taken back to heaven. Driven by Niulang's misery, the cow told him to turn its hide into a pair of shoes after it died.
The magic shoes whisked off Niulang, who carried his two children in baskets strung from a shoulder pole, off on a chase after the empress. The pursuit enraged the empress, who took her hairpin and slashed it across the sky, creating the Milky Way which separated husband from wife. But all was not lost. An army of magpies, moved by their love and devotion, formed a bridge across the Milky Way to reunite the family. Even the Jade Emperor was touchhed and allowed Niulang and Zhinu to meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh month. It is said that at that night, children can hear the private conversation between the Weaving Maid and the Cowherd under the grape trellis. This is how Qixi came to be.
In actuality, the festival can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). People would traditionally look up at the sky and spot a bright star in the constellation Aquila, as well as the star Vega, identified as Niulang and Zhinu. The two stars shine on opposite sides of the Milky Way.
Qixi is also known as the "Begging for Skills Festival" or "Daughters' Festival." In the past, girls would hold ceremonies on the day and pray to Zhinu for wisdom, dexterity and a satisfying marriage. In some parts of Shandong Province, young women would offer fruit and pastries to her in return for a blessing of intelligence. If spiders were seen to weave webs on sacrificial objects, it was believed that Zhinu was offering positive feedback. In other parts of China, the custom was for seven close friends to gather to make dumplings. They would put into three separate dumplings a needle, a copper coin and a red date, which represented perfect needlework skills, good fortune and an early marriage respectively.
Young women in southern China wove small handicrafts with colored paper, grass and thread. Weaving and needlework competitions would be held to see who had the best hands and the brightest mind, prerequisites for being a good wife and mother.
However, these ancient traditions and customs have been slowly dying out. Fewer people than ever gaze at the heaven on that day to pick out the two stars shining bright on either side of the Milky Way -- that is, if they even know on which day Qixi falls.
8月19日，是农历七月初七，也就是中国传统的七夕情人节。今年七夕，我家居住的小区融科蔚城开展了题为“融科仲夏夜，七夕爱蔚央”的业主活动。不但有节目可看，还有游戏可玩。湖面上还搭了一座鹊桥，上面挂满了鲜花。射灯照在鹊桥上，映出一桥七彩的五角星，就象一道彩虹。
节目由我最喜欢的时尚街舞开始。五位大哥哥在强劲的音乐伴奏下，一会儿单手倒立，一会儿连翻三四个跟斗，甚至整个人用头顶在地上旋转。掌声此起彼伏。一段歌舞串烧将节目掀起了高潮。有一场歌手与观众的对歌，在观众连续对上两首歌以后，那个歌手说要出个难题，用英文歌考考大家。结果居然唱的是我上幼儿园时就会唱的英文字母歌，让大小业主们乐得哈哈大笑。节目中间还穿插着抽奖和互动游戏，让业主观众们心跳不已。
节目还没结束，我就迫不及待地跑去玩游戏。打地鼠、钓鱼各玩了几次，可都不是我的强项。跳了一会儿蹦蹦床，可惜漏气了，蹦不起来。真扫兴。后来，我们一家人都在许愿树下许了愿，我偷看了爸爸妈妈许的愿，原来都是希望我健康快乐，学习进步什么的。其实不看也能想到，这就是他们最大的愿望。至于我的愿望嘛，不能说，据说说了就不灵了。当然，可以稍微透露一点点，是关于我自己的“面子”问题。我的力气太小，写着我愿望的袋子怎么也扔不到树上，只有劳烦老爸帮忙，可他的力气又太大了，扔了好几次都直接穿过许愿树掉了下来，好容易才把我的愿望扔到树上挂着。看来我的愿望要实现恐怕有点难度。妈妈可了不起了，竟然一次就成功地把她的愿望扔上了许愿树。不过，总算我们的愿望都能实现吧。
节目看完，游戏也玩了，美好的愿望也挂到了许愿树上，我捧着漂亮的荷灯依依不舍地回家。(荷花中心有一个箭串着两颗心的小灯，红蓝两种颜色交替闪烁。实在太漂亮了，没舍得往水里放。)往回走的路上，看到湖面上飘着星星点点的荷灯，好似天上的星星落在了水里。可抬头一看，星星不还在天上吗?水里的荷灯与天上的星星相映成趣，真是美不胜收。
晚上，我做了一个梦，梦到牛郎织女的一双儿女长大成人。他们买回了笔记本电脑和摄像头，上了宽带，还教会了牛郎使用。在七夕与织女相会时又教会了织女。这下好啦，他们再也不用苦苦等待那一年一度的七夕了。每天，他们通过网络交流，通过摄像头看到对方，又能通过麦克风对话。那宽阔的银河形同虚设，再也挡不住牛郎织女相见了。
大人们常说，“愿天下有情人终成眷属”。怎么就没有人用现代科技帮助一下牛郎织女呢?让他们到现在还在饱受相思之苦。