Posted by It might not be a surprise for you to hear that traditionally Chinese people follow the lunar calendar, which is around 1-2 months different from the international calendar. Nowadays all Chinese working people follow the international calendar for easier international communication. To complex the things we still follow the lunar calendar for most of the festivals (Chinese new year, mid-autumn festival, Chinese valentines day..).
What is Chinese Valentine’s day?
The Chinese valentine’s day, also called QiXi(七夕节) falls on 7th day of the 7th lunar month, this year (2016) specifically, is on 9th August of the international calendar, this festival dates back to Han dynasty(202 BC – 220 AD).
Most of the Chinese traditional holidays have a legend behind it, this festival is to memorize a very lovely couple(The girl called Zhinü – literally ‘weavergirl’ is the 7th daughter of the goddess and the guy called Niulang is a mortal) who were separated by force after they fell in love and had 2 lovely babies, every year, on this day all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge so that they can meet each other.
The below YouTube video has a super good explanation on the legend:
What do we do on this day?
1.Traditionally, on this day the girls in China would go to the local temple to pray to Zhinü for wisdom.
2. They also pray Zhinü for better weaving skills.
Back to the Han dynasty, weaving skill is one of the most important skills of a girl. In some regions, there would even be contest about weaving products from girls.
3. They also pray to find a loving husband like Niulang.
4. Nowadays it is another day to expect gifts and go shopping!
It is a pity that all of the traditional holidays have been commercialized, we are losing most of the traditional activitiesit is just another day for commercials to do another promotion.
I hope you get to know more about this day, you can also show some extra love on this day to your special one, if you happen to live in Shanghai, here is some tips for you to take her for a special treat!
For more info about QiXi festival, you can find it on Wikipedia.
Related movie – 50 First Dates
One of my favourite romantic movie is 50 First Dates from 2004, I cry every single time I watch it even although I am not that into drama. It is about a very sweet girl named Lucy who suffered from short term memory (only one day) and a womanizing marine veterinarian who managed to win her over every single day and living an “impossible” life happily.
Actually, such festivals for me are just another day for being together with AFei. Didn’t expect any surprise or any gift but just to make food together, see a movie or go restaurant together… such very normal things. As you know, as engineers, especially in China’s company, we are used to OT and we have very few chances to have dinner together during weekdays. So such a festival is always a being-together day for me, even though it’s just about ordinary activity.
Heyo!
This year the Chinese Valentin’s day is coming up, still the same plans as last year?
I hope your husband do less over time!
xx
Lin