How the ancients celebrated the Seventh Festival: It would be more appropriate to call it "Daughter's Day"

In ancient times, celebrating Qixi was not an exclusive activity for lovers. On this day, young women or newly married young women gather together to worship the moon and beg for cleverness. And this "clever" not only refers to female red, but also includes a woman's intelligence and ability to cultivate her children. Rather than saying that Qixi Festival is Valentine's Day in China, it would be more appropriate to call it China's Children's Day. Let's take a look at the records in ancient books to see how the ancients celebrated the Seventh Festival.

"Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" said: "Colorful women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles in the Kaijin Building on July 7. People are familiar with it." Liang Zongmou's "Jingchu Times" in the Southern Dynasties said: "On the 7th of July, it is the evening when women wear colorful buildings and wear seven holes outside, or use gold, silver and jade stones as needles." "Yu Di Zhi" said: "Emperor Wu of Qi built a city view. On July 7th, most palace people stepped on it and threaded needles. The world calls it a needle building." Wang Renyu of the Fifth Dynasty,"The Bereaved of Kaiyuan Tianbao" said: "On the seventh day of the seventh day, the palace was formed of brocade. It was a hundred feet high and could surpass dozens of people. The table was roasted with melons and fruits and wine, and seats were set up to worship the two stars of cattle and women. The concubines each used a nine-hole needle and five-color thread to pierce it towards the moon. Those who passed by were the Marquis who had learned how to do it. Playing the song of Qing Dynasty and Shang Dynasty, banquets and music will last until the end of the day. All the families of the local people follow it."

Yuan Tao Zongyi's "Yuan's Ye Ting Lu" said: "Jiuyintai is the place where you ask for skills on the seventh day. In the evening, the palace ladies took the stage and used colorful silk to thread nine-tailed needles. Those who finished first were considered skillful, and those who finished later were called losing skillful. Each contributed money to the person who got skillful." This is also an earlier way of begging for cleverness. Its custom is slightly later than threading a needle and begging for cleverness, which roughly dates from the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Liang Zongxin's "Jingchu Times" in the Southern Dynasties said: "That night, Chen melon and fruit were begging for cleverness in the courtyard. If you have a happy net on a melon, you will think it is a response." Wang Renyu's "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" of the Fifth Dynasty said: "On the 7th of July, each person caught spiders in a small box and opened it at dawn; he regarded the sparse spider webs as a master who had learned the skills. The secret ones speak more cleverly, and the rare ones speak less cleverly. People also follow it."

"Tokyo Dream Hua Lu", Yuanyuan Meng of the Song Dynasty, said that on the seventh day of July,"a small spider was used to settle the knot inside the nest. When looking at it the next day, it would be like a round net." Song Jingyi's "Qianchun Years Notes" said: "Store small spiders in it and wait for how long it will take to make the net more precise." Ming Tian Rucheng's "Xi Dynasty Happiness" said that on the seventh day of the Spring Festival,"use small boxes to hold spiders, and observe the density of the net the next morning and think how clever it will be." It can be seen that the methods for testing cleverness in the past dynasties were different. The Northern and Southern Dynasties viewed the existence of nets, the Tang Dynasty viewed the scarcity of nets, and the Song Dynasty viewed the roundness of nets. Later generations mostly followed the Tang customs.