The Qixi Festival, also known as the Qiqiao Festival, is a Chinese festival that celebrates the annual meeting of the weaver girl and cowherd in Chinese mythology. It falls on the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese calendar. It is sometimes called the Double Seventh Festival, the Chinese Valentine’s Day, or the Magpie Festival.

It is not only a festival about love, but also contains rich cultural connotations and traditional customs. On this day, people will pray for wisdom and dexterity in various ways, especially unmarried women, who will pay special attention to this day, hoping to get the blessing of the Weaver Girl, to obtain the ability of dexterity.

On the night of the Qixi Festival, different regions have various Qi Qiao customs. For instance, needle threading is a game that tests women’s dexterity, where participants thread a long, thin needle through seven or more threads in the moonlight as a test of their skill. In some places, there is also the activity of ‘Throwing Qiaoguo’, in which an unmarried woman will place a boat with small fruits and gourds in the water. If the fruits and gourds can float along the water without sinking, it is considered a sign of her future marital success.

As times change, these traditional customs have changed, but their core spirit - the pursuit and aspiration for a better life - is still being passed on and carried forward.

(By Yang Jiming/Qi Qian)