Don't treat "Chinese Valentine's Day" as "Valentine's Day" anymore! I am silent knowing the truth...

In recent years, every Chinese Valentine's Day, there will always be a lot of businesses promoting it as "Chinese Valentine's Day", wishing that all the lovers in the world will come to shop. As the saying goes, everyone loves money, and it is understandable that businesses want to find a small gimmick to make more money, and it is even more understandable that ordinary people want to add a sense of ritual to their lives. However, if we really open the ancient books and look at it carefully, in ancient times, Chinese Valentine's Day was not really a Valentine's Day.

July 7th, Labor First

At least since the Han Dynasty, the ancients regarded the seventh day of the seventh month as a special day - not a particularly romantic day, but a particularly busy day.

For example, the Jade Candle Treasure Book, July 7, cites Cui Shi's Four Minorities' Monthly Orders, which records the custom of celebrating July 7 during the Eastern Han Dynasty as follows:

Then they made koji and ground it. On that day, they could mix blue pills and Shuqi pills, dry scriptures and clothes, make dried rice cakes, and pick ears.

I have to pick Xanthium sibiricum, dry things in the sun, make wine yeast, fry dry food, and make several kinds of mysterious big pills. I have to be busy with so many things in a day. It's even harder than my part-time job.

A copy of the Jade Candle Treasure Book from the Ancient Rare Books Collection

No one can bear such hardship every year. Not all of these customs have been passed down. The most popular and influential ones are mainly the sun drying books (paper books were not very popular at that time, most books were written on silk or bamboo) and clothes and quilts. A lot of stories have been left behind.

For example, in Volume 31 of Taiping Yulan, Section 16 of Chronicles, Wang Yin’s Book of Jin records a legend:

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao wanted Sima Yi to come out of retirement to assist him. Sima Yi didn't like Cao Cao and pretended to have a stroke so as not to see him. Cao Cao didn't believe that Sima Yi had a stroke at such a young age. He didn't have the elegance of visiting Sima Yi three times, so he sent his men to sneak to Sima Yi's house to find out.

It happened to be the seventh day of the seventh month, and one of his men stretched his neck and saw Sima Yi holding a bundle of books and drying them in the sun. Cao Cao received the report and ordered Sima Yi to be forced to join the group. The seeds of Cao Wei's rise and fall over the next hundred years were all planted on this seventh day of the seventh month.

Photo of the "Three Collections of Sibu Congkan" Photo of the Song edition of "Taiping Yulan" published by the Tokyo Seikado Library

The above story belongs to the legend of the emperor and certainly cannot be fully believed. The following two stories about literati may be more credible.

According to the chapter Ren Dan in Shishuo Xinyu, Ruan Ji and Ruan Xian, two of the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" during the Three Kingdoms period, were uncle and nephew. They both came from the famous aristocratic family "Chenliu Ruan Clan". But as the aristocratic families grew larger, they gradually became divided into rich and poor: those living in the north were rich and noble, while Ruan Ji and Ruan Xian in the south were relatively poor.

On July 7, the rich relatives in the north hung up numerous silks and satins, which was both a way to dry clothes and a fashion show to show off their wealth. Ruan Xian in the south looked at the "colorful flags flying" over there with his rich relatives, and hung up a pair of large shorts worn by the poor, saying that he wanted to follow the trend and dry them in the sun, but there was obviously a deeper meaning.

The Shishuo Xinyu also records that Hao Long of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was too lazy to even put on his pants:

On the seventh day of the seventh month, Hao Long lay on his back at noon. When people asked him why, he replied, "I am drying my books."

A copy of the Shishuo Xinyu published by Jiaqutang in Ming Dynasty

The Tragedy of the Cowherd and the Girl

By the Jin Dynasty, more than half of the traditional festivals familiar to people today had already appeared, such as January 1 is New Year's Day (called "Spring Festival" after the Republic of China), March 3 is Shangsi, May 5 is Dragon Boat Festival, and September 9 is Double Ninth Festival. Each of them is delicious and fun.

Among all n months n {n is a positive odd number and n is less than 10}, only July 7th is the day of labor under the scorching sun and sweat dripping in the courtyard. How wonderful it would be if July 7th could also be turned into a holiday! But what kind of customs should be arranged for it? If we think hard and sigh anxiously, we may have the opportunity to see the extremely dazzling Vega and Altair in the bright summer night sky.

The two names "Vega" and "Altair" may not refer to the same stars in different periods. At least since the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Vega" refers to what people now call Vega 1, which is the second brightest star in the entire northern celestial sphere; "Altair" refers to Hegu 2, which is a little dimmer, but its brightness ranks sixth in the northern celestial sphere. At nightfall in summer, Vega 1 and Hegu 2 rise high and shine brightly. Across the Milky Way, they quietly look at each other, which makes people daydream.

"Summer Triangle". Image source: Wikipedia

Since the time of the Book of Songs, the ancients liked to mention "Vegas" and "Altair" together. However, in early records, "Vegas" and "Altair" did not represent the proper appearance of love, but a warning to be careful of being cheated on.

The Qin Dynasty bamboo slips unearthed from Shuihudi, "Daily Book Type A" (a book used by ancient people for fortune-telling), warned the ancients:

Wushen and Jiyou, the Cowherd tried to marry the Weaver Girl but failed. Within three years, he was abandoned as if dead. (3 back one/164 reverse one)

"岁" means year, "若" here means "or", "弃" means a man abandons a woman, and "亡" means someone escapes from marriage. It means that Wushen and Jiyou are the days when Altair marries Vega, so don't choose these two days to get married, or there will be no good result ("不果").

There is another Qin bamboo slip that says:

On the days of Wushen and Jiyou, the Cowherd tried to get the Weaver Girl, but failed, so he gave up three times. (155 II)

"Three" means a lot. The bad man abandoned the resentful woman, and abandoned her several times in a row. It is hard to imagine what the "Weaver Girl" in the Qin Dynasty legend went through.

The bamboo slips from Qin Tomb No. 11 at Shuihudi are included on page 1198 of "Collection of Qin Bamboo Slips. Volume 1" (Wuhan University Press, 2014).

Perhaps because the early legend was too cruel, the story was quietly changed between the Han and Wei dynasties, and the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd became a loving couple. Even the brothers Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, who were "so anxious to harm each other", had a similar view on the story of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd.

Cao Pi's famous work "Yan Ge Xing" says: "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl look at each other from afar, why are you alone confined to the river bridge?" Cao Zhi's representative work "Luo Shen Fu" says: "I sigh that the gourds are unmatched, and sing about the loneliness of the Cowherd." In these chants, there is no resentment brought by abandonment, only the sadness of forced separation. Unfortunately, the brotherly relationship between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi did not eventually see the restoration of the relationship between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd are stars in the sky. Who has the ability to forcibly separate a pair of stars? Of course, it is the Emperor of Heaven (God). In the understanding of the ancients, the Emperor of Heaven is not too nosy. Because the Weaver Girl is not an ordinary social animal, but the granddaughter of the Emperor of Heaven. "The Book of Celestial Officials" in "Records of the Grand Historian" says: "The Weaver Girl is the granddaughter of the Goddess of Heaven." In addition, some ancient people also said that the Weaver Girl is the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven.

No matter what it is, the younger generation did not wait for the urging of marriage and found a partner on their own. Isn't this exactly what the elders wished for? Why did the Emperor of Heaven want to break up her love? The ancients also had different opinions on this.

Feng Yingjing's Yueling Guangyi·July Ling quoted the novel, saying that the Weaver Girl was responsible for weaving "heavenly clothes". But after marriage, she was busy with love and didn't want to work. The Emperor of Heaven didn't have new clothes to wear, so he got angry. The Taiping Yulan Volume 31 "Shixu Section 16" quoted the Daily Wei Book and said that the responsibility was on the Cowherd: "I have seen a Taoist book saying that the Cowherd married the Weaver Girl and took 20,000 yuan from the Emperor of Heaven to prepare the gift. After a long time, he didn't return it, so he was driven into the camp."

Only Vega is worshipped on Qixi Festival

Whether it was the Weaver Girl, the Cowherd, or the Emperor of Heaven's narrow-mindedness, the ancients transformed the Cowherd and the Cowherd legend into a beautiful love story since the Han and Wei dynasties, which qualified it to upgrade the Qixi Festival to a festival. By the Jin Dynasty, the Qixi Festival had already appeared. However, from the Jin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the Qixi Festival had always been dedicated to the Weaver Girl, and the Cowherd had basically nothing to do with it.

Take the record in Liang Zongzhen's "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji" as an example:

On this night, women tie colorful threads, thread seven-hole needles, or use gold, silver, or brass needles, and place melons and fruits in the courtyard to pray for dexterity. If a seed is caught on a melon, it is considered a talisman.

When the ancients begged for skills from the Weaver Girl, the most interesting custom was spider divination.

The most common way to play is that the sisters who are begging for dexterity each catch a spider ("Xizi", a non-toxic long-legged spider of the family Octopidae), put them in different boxes and lock them up overnight. The spiders are bored after being locked up overnight, so they weave webs! The next day, the sisters get up and open their boxes. Whoever has more spider webs in their box will be given the most dexterity by the Weaver Girl. This ancient game of besties may not be played by modern insects if they travel back in time.

Five Dynasties, Anonymous, Begging for Skill (partial)

The Weaver Girl is a relatively rare female deity in ancient legends, so the ancient Qixi Festival also has a strong feminine tendency. However, men also want to take advantage of this.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a famous general named Guo Ziyi who made great contributions to the suppression of the An Lushan Rebellion. An ancient book called "Ganyu Ji" records:

When Guo Ziyi arrived in Yinzhou, he saw red lights on all sides at night. He looked up at the sky and saw a beautiful woman descending from the sky in a carriage with an embroidered tent. Ziyi prayed: "Today is the seventh day of the seventh month. It must be the Weaver Girl who has come. May I grant you longevity and wealth!" The girl smiled and said: "Great wealth and longevity!" After she finished speaking, she ascended to heaven. Ziyi later made great achievements and became a noble man. He died at the age of over ninety.

Of course, every Chinese Valentine's Day, there are definitely people who will choose the "midnight of July 7th" when no one is whispering to each other to wish that "the eternity of the world will end, but this hatred will never end." However, this is more of an individual behavior of literati and poets, and is still different from the festival customs popular among the people.

Until recent years, Chinese Valentine's Day was not a Valentine's Day.

Planning and production

Author: Cleaner, PhD student at Nankai University

Review | Wang Hongzhi, Associate Professor, School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University

Planning｜Yang Yaping

Editor｜Yang Yaping

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