Chinese Valentine’s Day, also known as Qiqiao Festival, Qijie Festival, daughter’s day, Qiniang society, Tanabata Festival, cow and bull woman’s day, Qixi, etc., is a traditional festival among Chinese people. Derived from the worship of stars, Chinese Valentine’s Day is the birthday of seven sisters in the traditional sense. It is named Qijie Festival because the worship of “Seven Sisters” is held on July 7th. It is a traditional custom to worship the seventh sister, pray for blessings, make wishes, beg for skillful skills, sit and watch the morning glory, Vega, pray for marriage, and store water on Tanabata. Through historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of “Cowherd and Weaver Girl”, making it a festival symbolizing love. Therefore, it is considered to be the most romantic traditional festival in China and has produced the cultural meaning of “Chinese Valentine’s Day” in contemporary times.
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is Chinese Valentine’s Day. What are the customs of Suzhou, one of the birthplaces of the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl? Suzhou Chinese Valentine’s Day has many customs: eating Qiao cake, dyeing nails, worshiping double stars, begging dexterity, praying for marriage, praying for seed, etc.
Eat Qiao Guo
On this romantic day, it was a great custom for Suzhou people to taste seasonal delicacies. Qiao Guo is not a fruit, but an oil cake made of flour or rice flour. According to the records of Hua Jili, aged in Wujun, “Qixi, an old custom in Wuzhong, sells skillful fruits on the market. It makes ramie knot shape with noodles and sugar or cuts it into the style of birds. It is crispy with oil. It is always called skillful fruit.” Eat Qiao Guo also as to place the good wish of making the eater dexterous.
Su style Qiao Guo is crisp and refreshing. Although the method is simple, the production process is still very methodical. First, the tofu for Qiao Guo must choose old tofu instead of tender tofu. When stirring, the old tofu must be thoroughly broken and mixed well in the flour. After the old tofu is added to the flour, because the two ingredients have different properties and different expansion coefficients, in the process of frying, the tofu will be fried before the flour and form tiny bubbles in the dough, so that the fruit will be crisp.
Paint fingernails
Since Chinese Valentine’s Day is also called daughter’s day, women will take this to show their beauty. So there is the custom of dyeing red nails. In ancient times, the paints used for fingernails were not nailing polish. Instead, they were crushed with Impatiens flowers, made of alum and water, dried on the fingernails, and made of red nails, which were especially bright, also could last for several months without fading.
Impatiens is a very easy to grow flower with red and white colors. From early summer to late autumn, it opens all the time. This humble herbaceous flower is loved by young women of all dynasties. It is also because using it to dye nails can make you look more charming and beautiful. Flower juice has the function of killing mold and ringworm and can treat stubborn onychomycosis and other diseases.
Beg for dexterity(Qiqiao)
Qiqiao in Wu can be divided into two categories. The first category is to worship the weaver girl. Every family puts an offering table in the courtyard at night. Melons and fruits should be placed on the table. If someone climbs up, people will become clever, otherwise they will become stupid.
The second type is sewing needle or floating needle. It is said that on this day, women are all concerned with sewing. Whoever wears more needles and leads represents who is more intelligent. The floating needle is more interesting. Use a container to combine the well water and river water and put it in the sun. Over time, a film will form on the water surface. Put a needle on the membrane. At this time, the reflection will show various shapes such as animals or flowers, which indicates that people will become smarter. If the shadow is straight, like a stick, it indicates that people will become stupid.
Pray for seed grow
In the old custom, a few days before the Chinese New Year’s Eve, first lay a layer of soil on a small wooden board, sow the seeds of corn and let it produce green seedlings, then put some small huts, flowers and trees on it to make it look like a small village of a farmhouse, known as the “shell plate”, or soak mung beans, small beans and wheat in a magnetic bowl, wait for it to grow inch buds, and then tie them into a bundle with red and blue silk ropes, It is also called “five life pots” or “flower pots”.
Eat orchid beans
In addition, in Taicang and other places, there is the custom of eating orchid beans (old broad beans) at the Tanabata Festival. Every year on Tanabata day, Taicang girls wash their hair. It is said that the river or well water took on this day is holy water. Washing your hair with holy water can get the blessing of the saint.
Give health rope
There is a custom of giving health rope on July 7 in both Jiangnan and Jiangbei. It is said that the magpie urgently needed a lot of rope to meet the Cowherd and weaver girl because of the bridge. The old scalper, who was the matchmaker for the couple, recalled the folk custom of tying a colored rope to the child’s wrist for health on the Dragon Boat Festival, and called it “healthy rope”, so he called on people to offer ropes.
So we agreed to take off the health rope on the child’s wrist and throw it to the roof or windowsill the night before the seventh day of July, so that the magpie can take it to build the bridge.