Qixi Festival

The Chinese festival Kwee (Chinese七夕, Pinyin Kwee, The Night of Sevens ') falls on the evening of the 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is the Chinese festival of lovers, a Chinese counterpart to the Western Valentine's Day. The underlying folk tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver is well known in China and is celebrated by many young people in the cities and in the countryside.

Legend

According to legend Kwee the evening where two lovers namely the shepherd boy (牛郎, Niulang ) and the weaver girl (织女, zhīnǚ ), two be in the sky by the Milky separate stars ( Altair and Vega ), for a night together can.

The legend comes from a traditional love story about a cowherd. Whose parents had died a long time ago and his brother's wife drove him out of the house. He took it a hard life, he tended cows and ordered the field. This is what a fairy fell in love with him. You came to the earth and they were married while he was working in the field and the cows herded, they wove. Together with a son and a daughter, she led a happy life. When this was told the sky emperor, he was angry and sent the Empress heaven to earth in order to separate them, and return the fee to the sky.

The cowherd loved her very much and followed her on a celestial cow. As soon as he caught it, pulled the Empress sky with a golden hairpin a Sky River, by the shepherd and the weaver were separated. They both loved each other very much and now stood with tears in his eyes over. As the Magpies saw this they moved it, they came flying and formed for both a bridge over the river sky, so that they could meet her. This touched the sky Empress so that they allowed them to meet each year on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar on the magpie bridge. On this day it is raining every year, as the two lovers tears of joy or, depending on the interpretation of grief shed about their plight. Nevertheless, people are hoping, of course, generally good weather, to celebrate the feast in the open air with a view of the stars can.

In Japan, the analogous Tanabata festival.

Variants of the legend

From the legend, there are several variants. So it is also reported:

  • Niulang and Zhinu neglect the work because of their love. The sky Kaiser shows on the two separated by the Milky Way. Only once a year they are allowed to meet. Zhinu then travels to the Moon over the Milky Way Niulang. In rainy weather, magpies form a bridge with their wings. Zhinu is in the starry sky as Vega, Niulang as Altair.
  • The sky Empress leaves, stirred by the love of the two come together this once on the 7th day of the 7th month.
  • The star Deneb acts at the meeting of the lovers at the Magpie Bridge as so-called chaperone.
  • In another tradition, the lovers are allowed once a month, rather than meet only once a year.
  • A Chinese myth says that unite the stars Altair and Vega in the Milky Way during the Kwee - night.

Calendar data

The festival is celebrated according to the lunar calendar bound in Japanese ( the Chinese very similar ) lunisolar calendar would fall on the following data. From this it is also clear why in some regions of Japan instead of July 7, after the ( statutory ) Gregorian Calendar August 7 of each year is preferred. The next dates of the Tanabata Festival in Japan are:

  • 06 August, 2011
  • August 24, 2012, China: August 23, 2012
  • August 13, 2013
  • 02 August 2014
  • August 20, 2015
  • 09 August 2016
  • August 28, 2017
  • August 17, 2018
  • 07 August 2019
  • August 25, 2020
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