Qixi Festival

In China we celebrate many different occasions in different ways depending on the nature of the festival. The Qixi (or Qiqiao) festival is a celebration that remember the story of the cowherd and weather girl. This is a prominent story in China and is celebrated every year. China follows the lunar calendar and many of the celebrations are expressed as days observed in tandem with the lunar month. The Qixi festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the year.

The story relating to this festival is a romantic one and is one of my favourites. It is told through a poetry medium and follows the love story between a weaver girl and the cowherd. This is commonly known as Zhi nu and Niu lang in China. The forbidden love between the two resulted in banishment to the far reaches of the silver river. It is said that on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a bridge of magpies would form, uniting the lovers for a day. The story has inspired many other works of famous authors and there are many variations of the tale. I have come to enjoy the story in all forms and the notion of even the heavens that will connect the way for true lovers to meet is a powerful thought.