The Qixi Festival, a traditional event observed in Taiwan, Singapore, and other regions of Asia, is honored in today’s Google Doodle.
The festival commemorates the yearly encounter of Zhinü and Niulang, the cowherd and weaver girl from Chinese legend.
Their reconnaissance is shown on the stamped cloth doodle as a crimson silhouette surrounded by whirling clouds and magpies.
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What is the Qixi Festival?
The Qixi Festival is frequently referred to as “Chinese Valentine’s Day” because of how much it resembles Valentine’s Day.
The lunar calendar’s seventh day of the seventh month, which falls either in the last week of July or the first three weeks of August, is when it is observed.
The festival is also referred to as the Double Seventh Festival and the Night of the Sevens because of its timing.
It is observed on Thursday, August 4th, this year.
The story of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, which was inspired by the traditional Chinese practice of astrology, is the centerpiece of the Qixi Festival.
The brightest star in the constellation of Aquila, Altair, serves as a metaphor for Niulang, the cowherd, in this tale. The brightest star in the constellation of Vega, Vega, stands in for Zhinü, the weaver girl.
These two stars came together in the sky on the double seventh, as the ancient Chinese observed. According to legend, Niulang and Zhinü, a fairy, fell in love, but the queen mother of the heavens forbade their union.
The Milky Way is a representation of the celestial river that the queen mother created to divide them.
How is it celebrated?
Older traditions used to include demonstrations of craft skills, worship services devoted to Zhinü and flower-hanging ceremonies honouring oxen.
However, modern traditions are more akin to Valentine’s Day, with people exchanging roses, sweets and chocolates with their love interests.
People look up at the sky to seek out Altair and Vega, while Deneb, a third star, forms a symbolic bridge between the two.
The festival also holds importance for newlyweds. Traditionally, they would worship Zhinü and Niulang for the last time and bid farewell to them. This celebration stood as a symbol of a happy marriage and showed that the married woman was treasured by her new family.
