The seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar is celebrated across East Asia as one of the most important festivities of the year, known as Double Seventh Festival. This traditional festival originated in China, where it is known as Qixi, and was later adopted in Japan as Tanabata and in Korea as Chilseok. In 2023, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month falls on August 22.
The Double Seventh Festival is a celebration of love, almost like an East Asian equivalent of Valentine’s Day, and it derives from a popular romantic folk tale of Chinese mythology: the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. This myth dates back at least 2600 years, and it tells the story of the romance between a cowherd, symbolized by the star Altair, and the daughter of a heavenly king, who was also a weaver, symbolized by the star Vega. The cowherd is called Niulang in China, Hikoboshi in Japan, and Gyeonu in Korea, while the weaver girl is known as Zhinü in China, Orihime in Japan, and Jingnyeo in Korea.
There are many variations of this story, but in every version the two lovers end up being separated and forced to live on different sides of a river, symbolized by the Milky Way. Once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunisolar calendar, a flock of magpies would form a bridge across the river, allowing the lovers to reunite only for one day. It is said that if it rains on that day, those are the tears of the two lovers who could not reunite and have to wait for another year.
Depiction of the reunion of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on the bridge of magpies from the Summer Palace in Beijing.
Qixi in China
The Double Seventh Festival has been celebrated since ancient times in China, where it is called Qixi. According to the Chinese version of the myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, the cowherd Niulang saw some fairies bathing in a spring, and fell in love with the weaver Zhinü, daughter of the Jade Emperor. Niulang stole Zhinü’s clothes to stop her from returning to heaven, and this turned the girl into a human. The two got married, but the Jade Emperor was angered by Zhinü’s decision to leave heaven and ordered the Queen Mother of the West to take her back. Niulang tried to chase after them, but the Queen Mother of the West created a river to stop him and separate the lovers. The magpies were moved by the scene, and decided to form a bridge to allow the lovers to reunite. The Jade Emperor then decided that Niulang and Zhinü could meet on the magpie bridge once a year.
Many of the ancient traditions of the Qixi Festival in China are no longer observed, or only found in rural areas. During the festival, women used to show their threading skills and display their needlework. People also worshipped the mythical lovers with offerings and prayers, wishing for love and happiness. Traditional Qixi food include fruit, fried pastries, and desserts. Nowadays, people celebrate Qixi similarly to how Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the West, by exchanging gifts such as flowers and chocolates, and by going on romantic dates.
Tanabata in Japan
In Japan, the Double Seventh Festival is called Tanabata or Star Festival (Hoshimatsuri), and it is celebrated across various dates in July and August, starting from July 7 and ending with the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. In the most popular Japanese version of the myth, the weaver Orihime was the daughter of the Sky King Tentei, and could not find a lover as she was too busy weaving clothes. So, her father arranged a meeting with the cowherd Hikoboshi, who lived on the other side of the Amanogawa river. The two fell in love and married, but Orihime stopped weaving clothes for her father, and Hikoboshi did not take enough care of his cows. Angered, Tentei separated the lovers on different sides of the river, allowing them to meet only once a year. However, when they could finally meet, there was no bridge on the river. Orihime cried so much that the magpies decided to form a bridge to let the lovers reunite.
Today Tanabata is one of the most important festivals in Japan, celebrated with large scale events held in many cities, most notably in Sendai. One of the most popular traditions of Tanabata is writing wishes on small pieces of paper (called tanzaku) and hanging them on bamboo trees. The decorated trees are then often set afloat on a river and burned. During Tanabata, streets are decorated with colorful streamers and paper lanterns, and many people wear yukata, a casual summer version of the kimono. Traditional Tanabata food include: takoyaki, a snack filled with pieces of octopus; yakisoba, a dish of fried noodles; okonomiyaki, a savoury pancake; and yakitori, skewered grilled chicken.
Thanks to its appearance in many anime, manga, and videogames, the Japanese Tanabata is the most famous version of the Double Seventh Festival, and dedicated events are held in different countries across the world.
Tanzaku hanging on a bamboo tree in Japan during Tanabata (★Kumiko★, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0).
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Chilseok in Korea
The Double Seventh Festival is known as Chilseok in Korea, and it is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunisolar calendar. According to the Korean version of the myth, Jingnyeo was a weaver and the daughter of a heavenly king. One day she fell in love with Gyeonu, a cowherd that lived on the other side of a river. The two married and started neglecting their jobs, so the heavenly king punished them by banishing the lovers on different sides of the river, allowing them to meet only once a year. When they tried to meet there was no bridge across the river, so the magpies came together to create one and allow the lovers to reunite.
Many ancient Chilseok traditions are not observed anymore in Korea. People used to take baths for good health, and go to temples to make offerings and wish for a good harvest. As Chilseok usually falls in a period where the summer heat starts to dwindle, people would eat wheat based foods, since wheat would lose quality as the weather became colder.