Seven Sister Festival (七夕节)

As its name implies, this festival is held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, and folklore says this is the day the Weaving Girl and the Herd Boy reunite.

The Herd Boy, Niu Lang, was orphaned and living with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law was cruel to him and one day he was out in the fields with his old cow who said the next day was the seventh day of the seventh month, the day when the seven daughters of Yuhuang Dadi come to earth to bathe. The youngest, Zhi Nü, was the cleverest of them and all Niu Lang had to do was to hide her clothes and she would be his wife. The Herd Boy did this; he hid in the reedbed as seven faeries floated from heaven to bathe, when Niu Lang sprang up and hid the youngest girl’s clothes. Startled, six of them flew back, leaving the youngest in the river. He promised she could have her clothes back on condition she marry him. She agreed, they were happy and had a son and a daughter. But the Weaving Girl was forced back by the Queen Mother of the Western Heavens. The Herd Boy and the children tried to get her back but, with a wave of her hairpin, the Queen Mother created a wide river, separating the two lovers, who could do nothing but weep.

Magpies felt their sorrow and formed the Milky Way so the lovers (Altair and Vega) could be together on the bridge. The Queen Mother could not prevent this, and the pair of them reunite every year on the seventh day of the seventh month.

The festival is also known as the Praying-for-Cleverness Ceremony. This is because of the ritual practice of young girls who dress in new clothes and try to find the two lovers in the night sky, so they can pray to the gods that they can be as beautiful and clever as Zhi Nü and marry happily. This is known as ‘praying to Zhi Nü for cleverness.’ Most girls pray for talent with needle and thread, so the girl who can thread seven needles on this night is seen as talented.
Double Seventh is the Chinese answer to Valentine’s Day, the tale of the two lovers adding a romantic twist to the occasion. Tradition has it that, if you sit under a grapevine on the seventh of the seventh, you can hear the lovers whisper.