Qixi Festival, also known as Qiqiao Festival, Qijie Festival, Girl’s Day, Qiqiao Festival, Qinianghui, Qixi Festival [39-40], Niu Gong Niu Po Day, Qiao Xi, etc., is a traditional Chinese folk festival. The Qixi Festival evolved from the worship of the stars, and it is the birthday of the Seventh Sister in the traditional sense. Because the activities of worshiping the “Seventh Sister” are held on the seventh night of July, it is named “Qixi”. It is the traditional custom of Qixi Festival to worship Qixi, pray for blessings, make wishes, beg for skillful arts, sit and watch Altair Vega, pray for marriage, and store water for Qixi Festival. Through historical development, Qixi Festival has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of “Cowherd and Weaver Girl”, making it a festival that symbolizes love, and thus is considered to be the most romantic traditional festival in China. cultural meaning. [1-2]
Qixi Festival is not only a festival to pay homage to Seventh Sister, but also a festival of love. It is a comprehensive festival based on the folklore of “Cowherd and Weaver Girl”, with the theme of praying for blessings, begging for cleverness, and love, and taking women as the main body. The “Cowherd and Weaver Girl” on Qixi Festival comes from people’s worship of natural astronomical phenomena. In ancient times, people corresponded astronomical star regions with geographical regions. Division”. According to legend, every year on the seventh day of the seventh month, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will meet on the Magpie Bridge in the sky. [3-4]
The Qixi Festival began in ancient times, popularized in the Western Han Dynasty, and flourished in the Song Dynasty. Among the many folk customs of Qixi Festival, some have gradually disappeared, but a considerable part has been continued by people. The Qixi Festival originated in China, and some Asian countries influenced by Chinese culture, such as Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Vietnam, also have the tradition of celebrating Qixi Festival. On May 20, 2006, Qixi Festival was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. [5-9]
