Thursday, August 7, 2008

Chinese Valentine Day!



Today is Chinese Valentine Day. It is also known as the Daughter's Festival and several other names. It is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
This holiday is one of love. Its romantic (and lovely) that this holiday evolved from an ancient love story from Chinese folklore. There are several versions of the story.

Here is one of the the most popular versions of the story:
The Goddess of Heaven (also known as the Queen of Heaven) had seven beautiful, young daughters. The seven daughters came down to earth. They decided to bathe in a pristine river, leaving their clothes on the shore. Along came a cow herder (the herd were actually ox) named "Niu Lang". He took their clothes to see what they would do. The daughters decided that the youngest, and most beautiful, named Zhi Nü should go out of the water and recover their clothes. Because Niu Lang saw her naked, they had to get married. They fell madly in love, and shared several years of marital bliss.
Finally, her mother became irritated by her absence from Heaven, and ordered her to return. Seeing how much Zhi Nü missed her husband, the Jade Emperor of Heaven brought the couple back together. Ultimately, Zhi Nü was allowed to visit her husband, Niu Lang just once a year. The annual reunion occurs on the 7th day of the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar. Taken from Holiday Insights.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Cool! Thanks for the trivia!

Dawn said...

How interesting! :)
That reminded me that I never knew that Morro Rock is one of what they call "The Seven Sisters" that line the coast of CA. Have you heard of that? It's an interesting story....I can't remember all the details (my brain fog) but it was cool to find that out last summer since I've lived there my whole life and NEVER knew it! LOL!!!