The History And Traditions Of Qixi Day

The festival has been celebrated since the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). On May 20, 2015, the Double Seventh Festival was added to the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list by the State Council of China. Many of the traditional customs are disappearing, or no longer observed. You are more likely to find these practiced in rural areas:

• 1. Showing skills (demonstrating dexterity) was the most popular custom for women in the evening of Qixi. The longest standing way to "plead skills" was to speedily thread a needle under moonlight. Young women also carved exotic flowers, animals, and unusual birds, usually on a melon skin.
• 2. Worshiping the weaver fairy (the star Vega), Zhinü (/jrr-nyoo/) involved a table of offerings: tea, wine, fruits, longans, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, and melon seeds. In the evening young women sat around the table, displaying their needlework, gazing at Vega, and praying for a good husband and a happy life. Then they'd play games or read poems until midnight.
• 3. Honoring oxen: Children picked bunches of wild flowers and hung them on the horns of oxen in honor of the legendary ox. See below.
• 4. People made and ate 'Skill Fruit' ( qiǎo guǒ /chyaoww-gwor/ 'skill fruit'): fried, thin pastries of different shapes.