{"id":3073,"date":"2022-08-04T15:19:19","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T15:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2022-08-04T15:19:20","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T15:19:20","slug":"happy-valentines-day-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=3073","title":{"rendered":"Happy Valentine’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I think I\u2019ve mentioned before, that China has a number of \u201cValentine\u2019s Days.\u201d In the United States, we celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day on the 14th of February. And fairly recently, 2\/14 has become a popular celebration in China \u2014 imported from the West. It\u2019s particularly popular among the younger generation \u2014 much like in the West, Chinese couples spend time together by going to the movies or for romantic dinners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But today, August 4, 2020, is also Chinese Valentine\u2019s Day \u2014 In China, it\u2019s known as the Qi Xi Festival, often called the Qixi Festival. It is celebrated on July 7th (7\/7) on the Lunar calendar, which means the date on our calendar usually falls in the month of August \u2014 this year, it\u2019s today, August 4th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Qisi Festival comes from the romantic tale of two lovers who can only come together once a year, which is why it\u2019s celebrated on this day.\u00a0
If you\u2019re researching this particular Chinese Valentine\u2019s Day, you may find it listed under different names, such as the Double Seven Festival, or the Daughter\u2019s Festival. It\u2019s sometimes referred to as the Double Seven Festival because in literal terms, the word \u201cqixi\u201d means \u201cevening of sevens\u201d as it represents the seventh day of the seventh month per the Chinese lunar calendar.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since this is a Chinese Valentine\u2019s Day, people celebrate the occasion as a day of love by buying presents for their spouses or romantic partners\u2026 however, the Chinese like to observe the day by following various local customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Qixi Festival has its roots in ancient Chinese folklore. The legend goes that Zhin\u00fc, a weaving girl from Heaven, descended to Earth and fell in love with a mortal named Niulang. They married each other without the knowledge of Zhin\u00fc\u2019s mother, the Goddess of Heaven. Zhin\u00fc bore Niulang two beautiful children and lived happily until her mother learned of her transgressions, went into a rage, and sent soldiers to retrieve her. Zhin\u00fc went back to Heaven.
Sometime later, Niulang tried to rescue his wife, but the Goddess of Heaven took out her hairpin and created a massive river, thinking she had separated the lovers forever. However, Niulang and Zhin\u00fc\u2019s love was stronger than she thought. It moved the magpies so much that they flew up to Heaven to form a bridge over the river.\u00a0
Seeing the love between her child and a mortal man, the Goddess of Heaven allowed the lovers to meet on the Magpie bridge on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month every year \u2014 and that\u2019s how the Qixi Festival came into being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to several Chinese beliefs, the river represents the Milky Way, while Zhin\u00fc and Niulang represent the constellations of Vega and Altair. The festival was first recognized as a formal occasion during the Han Dynasty, over 2,600 years ago.\u00a0
Although it sounds romantic, the festival was not initially intended for lovers but for young girls to worship the weaving fairy and hone their skills at handcraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you\u2019re like me, and hate the crowds at restaurants on February 14th, this Chinese Valentine\u2019s Day may be your cup of tea. We usually get a quizzical look when we tell the waiter that we\u2019re celebrating Valentine\u2019s Day, but we always get the same look when we show up the day before, or after our \u201ctraditional\u201d Valentine\u2019s day, too.
Happy Chinese Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I\u2019ve mentioned before, that China has a number of \u201cValentine\u2019s Days.\u201d In the United States, we celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day on the 14th of February. And fairly recently, 2\/14 has become a popular celebration in China \u2014 imported from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3075,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions\/3075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}