Tanabata is full of tricks.
In the old custom, a few days before Tanabata, a layer of soil was first applied to a small wooden board, and the seeds of millet were sprinkled to make it grow green seedlings. Then some huts and flowers were placed on it to make it look like a small village where people live in heaven, which was called "shell board", or mung beans, adzuki beans and wheat were soaked in a magnetic bowl until it grew into inch-by-inch buds, and then red flowers were placed on it. All parts of the south are also called "bubble cleverness", and the sprouted bean sprouts are called smart buds. Even the needles are replaced by smart buds and thrown on the water to beg for cleverness. Wax is also used to create various images, such as the characters in the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, or the shapes of animals such as vultures and mandarin ducks, which float on the water, which is called "floating on the water". There are also baby dolls made of wax, which women can buy home and float in the water and soil to show their good luck to their children, which is called "metaplasia".
Throwing needles to measure skills: This is a variation of Chinese Valentine's Day's custom of seeking skills by threading needles, which is different from threading needles. This is a popular Valentine's Day custom in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Liu and Yu Yizheng said in A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital, "On the afternoon of July 7th, I lost my magic needle. When a woman comes into contact with water, the water film looks strange, and the embroidery needle floats and looks at the shadow of the underwater needle. There are clouds, flowers, birds and animals, shoes, scissors and eggplant shadows, which are called clever begging; Its shadow is as thick as a hammer, as thin as silk and as straight as axis wax, which is wrong. "Records of Zhili" also said that in Liangxiang County (now southwest of Beijing), "on July 7th, women begged for cleverness, threw needles into the water, took the shadow of the sun to inspect the work, and still begged for cleverness at night". Please quote ten thousand miscellanies in "An Examination of Old News in the Sun": "On July 7th, a woman in Yan Dou threw a small needle on the water with a bowl of water. Or scattered like a flower, moving like a cloud, as thin as a line, as thick as a cone, all because of the ingenuity of the diviner. "
Wash your hair with sap and dye your nails with flowers: Young girls in many areas like to wash their hair with sap on holidays. It is said that not only young and beautiful, but also unmarried women can find husbands as soon as possible. Dyeing nails with flowers and plants is also a hobby of most women and children in holiday entertainment, and it is also closely related to reproductive beliefs.
Listen to the whispers under the pumpkin shed: in the countryside of Shaoxing, there will be many young girls hiding under the leafy pumpkin shed this night. If you can hear the whispers when the cowherd and the weaver girl meet in the dead of night, the girl to be married will definitely get this eternal love in the future.
Catch dew: In rural areas of Zhejiang, it is popular to catch dew with washbasins. Legend has it that the dew on Tanabata is the tears when cowherd and weaver girl meet. If you put it in your eyes and hands, it can make people agile.
Love spiders to be clever: this is also an early way to seek cleverness, and it was popularized a little later than threading needles, probably starting in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Liang Zonggu of the Southern Dynasties said "A Record of Jingchu Times"; "In the evening, Chen Guaguo begged for cleverness in court. If you have a happy subnet on melon, you think it is corresponding. "
The Five Dynasties Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" said: "On July 7, we all caught spiders in small boxes until dawn; Think of cobwebs as sparse and dense. Secret people have many clever words, while rare people have few clever words. So are folk works. " A Dream in Tokyo by Meng Yuanyuan, a poet of the Song Dynasty, said that on the seventh day of July, "Put a spider in the zygote and watch it the next day. If the net is round, it is just a coincidence. " Song Zhou Mi's "When I was one year old" said; "How long does it take to store small spiders in the house and wait for the density of the net?" Tomita Rucheng's "Joy of the Xi Tide" said that on Tanabata, "It is very clever to put spiders in a small box and see the density of their webs the next morning." It can be seen that the methods of testing ingenuity in past dynasties are different. The existence of the visual network in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the thinness of the visual network in the Tang Dynasty, and the roundness of the visual network in the Song Dynasty, followed the customs of the Tang Dynasty in later generations.
Seeking cleverness through needles: this is the earliest way to seek cleverness, which began in the Han Dynasty and spread to later generations. (Miscellanies of Xijing) said: "Women in the Han Dynasty often wear seven-hole needles in the Jinkai Building on July 7, and people have the ambition of Xi." Liang Zongmou of the Southern Dynasties said, "On July 7th, it was a woman of the Xijia family who tied the colored floor, pierced seven holes, or used gold and silver as needles." (Yu Dizhi) said, "Emperor Wudi of Qi began to look at the city on the first floor, and on July 7th, the imperial secretary tried to pierce the needle many times. The world calls it the needle-piercing building. " Wang Renyu of the Five Dynasties (the Tianbao Legacy of Kaiyuan) said: "On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the palace was made of brocade, which was hundreds of feet high and could beat dozens of people in the world. Chen baked melons and fruits with wine, set a banquet, worshipped cows and girls, and each of his concubines wore a nine-hole needle, with five-color lines facing the moon. This is a wonderful time. It's fun to play the song of Qing business. The home of the natives is effective. " Yuan Taozong Yi (recorded in Ye Ting, Yuanshi County) said: "Nine tables attract visitors, and Chinese Valentine's Day is the land of ingenuity. In the evening, the ladies-in-waiting went on stage to wear Kyubi no Youko needles with colored silk. The person who finishes first is smart, and the person who finishes late is called a loser. Everyone contributed a gift. "
Happy Birthday to Cow: Children will pick wild flowers and hang them on their horns on Tanabata, which is called "Happy Birthday to Cow" (it is said that Tanabata is the birthday of Cow).
Welcome Fairy: The Begging Festival in Guangzhou is unique. Before the festival comes, the girls prepare colored paper, medulla tetrapanacis and string in advance to make all kinds of ingenious gadgets. They also put seeds and mung beans in a small box and soaked them in water to germinate them. Buds grow to more than two inches and are used to worship the gods, which are called "worshipping the immortals" and "worshipping the gods". From the sixth night to the seventh night, the girls put on new clothes and jewelry for two nights in a row. After all the arrangements are made, they burn incense and light candles and bow down to the stars, which is called "welcoming the immortals". From the third night to the fifth watch, they will worship seven times in a row. After worshipping the immortals, the girls passed through the pinholes with colored threads in their hands. For example, those who can wear seven pinholes in one breath are called skillful hands, and those who can't wear seven pinholes are called skillful hands. After Tanabata, the girls exchanged small crafts and toys to show their friendship.
Clever attempt to float the needle: July 7 is "Women's Day". The girl held the water in the jar to the sun, with a needle floating in the middle, and took pictures of the shadow in the water to try the trick, resurrect the fruit and compete for the "trick".
Union knot under the moon, threading the needle: Jiaodong area
There is a custom of worshipping Seven Sisters. Young women often like to get together in new clothes on Tanabata and tie the knot in Seven Sisters at the end of the month. Some people even sang "Emperor Emperor, I invite seven sisters to heaven. Don't look at your needle, don't look at your thread, look at your seventy-two good means. " They also compete for the title of skillful hands.
Planting smart vegetables and making smart flowers: There are two kinds of activities in Rongcheng, Shandong. One is "clever dishes", that is, girls cultivate malt in wine glasses, and the other is "clever flowers", where girls use flour to shape all kinds of food with flowers.
Zhagu Bridge planted bean sprouts and green onions, skillfully divined, pierced needles and cut window flowers: In the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province, there is also the custom of holding various begging activities on Qixi night. Women often bind grass people in flowered clothes. This is called the ancient bridge, which not only provides fruits and vegetables, but also plants bean sprouts and green onions. On Qixi night, all the women held a bowl of water in their hands, cut bean sprouts and green onions, and put them in the water to see the shadow of the moon. At the same time, there will be activities to cut window grilles.
Seven Sisters Club: Seven Sisters Club is organized in some areas, and Seven Sisters Club in various areas gathers in Zongxiang Guild Hall, and all kinds of colorful incense tables are made of paper, filled with flowers, fruits, rouge powder, paper floral dresses, shoes, daily necessities, embroidery, etc. The "Seven Sisters Club" in different regions will work hard on the incense table to see who makes it exquisite. Nowadays, this activity has been forgotten, and only a few ancestral halls still set up incense tables on this festival to worship the cowherd and the weaver girl. The incense table is usually prepared on the seventh day of July, and the Weaver Maid is asked for help at night.
Clear water is a clever trick: Jiangsu's clever trick is to expose a bowl of clean water to the sun and spend the night in the open air. It is to pick up thin straw sticks and float in the water, all by their shadows. There are also many young women who use small needles to see the shadow of underwater needles to fulfill their wisdom and stupidity. Han people in other areas also use this method to make themselves smart and stupid.
Seven knots of red rope for Tanabata water storage: Some areas in Guangxi have the custom of Tanabata water storage. It is believed that bathing with double seven waters can eliminate disasters and diseases. Sick children often tie seven knots of red rope on this day and wear it around their necks to pray for health and good luck.
Eat Smart Food: China's Valentine's Day eating habits vary from place to place, and are generally called smart food. Among them, jiaozi, noodles, avocados, wonton and other foods are used for this festival. If you eat cloud flour, it must be made of dew, and you can get a good taste when you eat it. There are also many folk pastry shops that like to make some crisp candy with the image of Weaver Girl, commonly known as "capable people" and "skillful cakes", and they are also called "sending talented people" when they are sold. This custom has spread in some areas so far.
About the tricky place
In the court, there are many colorful buildings. In the Han Dynasty, there were open-top buildings, in the Qi Dynasty, there were needle-piercing buildings, and in the Tang Dynasty, there were hundreds of feet of halls made of brocade. Folk "Colorful Buildings in Your Family" and "Tokyo Dream in China", because of financial constraints, ordinary people build greenhouses instead of colorful buildings, quoted from Song Chen Liang Yuan's "Guang Ji at the Age of Years". Shi Jingren's Tanabata is a shed made of bamboo or hemp straw and a floor made of five colors, which is also a fairy floor. Carving a statue of a cow fairy is equal to seeking skills. Or just take a paper-cut as a fairy bridge. Among them are cowgirls and immortals. "
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qiaqiao was quite grand, and there was also a market in Beijing that monopolized Qiaqiao goods, which was called Qiaqiao City by the world. Song He's series "Talking about Drunken Weng" said: "Tanabata, the property is a gimmick. From July 1st, horses and chariots swallowed up, and three days before Chinese Valentine's Day, horses and chariots were not allowed to pass. After several stops, no conclusions were drawn, and they dispersed at night. In Jiayou, there is a thief riding a horse who is easy to beg for cleverness, Kaifeng Yin Yuan. Since then, Pan Lou, followed by Li Jing, Bao Kang and Muqin, also begged for a smart market, but it was not as prosperous as Pan Lou. The husband's begging skills are mostly picking silks, and women wear seven-hole needles under the moon at night. In fact, this needle can't be used, because the needle is wide and the hole is big. The rest are very clever; Many southerners imitate. " Here, we can infer the lively scene of the Jocci Festival from the grand occasion of buying Qiao Qi goods from Qiao Qi. People set up Qiao Qi products from the first day, and the Qiao Qi market is full of traffic and people. By Tanabata, the Qiao Qi market has become a sea of people, and it is difficult for horses and chariots to travel, even for nobles. This situation, how spectacular. Looking at its customs, it seems to be no less than the biggest festival in ancient times-the Spring Festival. It can be seen that begging for cleverness is one of the favorite festivals of the ancients.
Valentine's Day in China originated in Nanyang.
The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the legendary day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Queqiao Bridge. It originated from the traditional Valentine's Day in China and ranks among the four major folklore in China. The author quotes the classics and makes a preliminary textual research. This beautiful and touching love story originated in ancient Nanyang.
Legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl and Chu Culture
Tracing the formation of Valentine's Day in China from the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, the time was in the Warring States Period and the place was in the State of Chu. There is a poem in The Book of Songs Xiaoya Dadong: "You are a weaver girl. You are the one holding the cow all day, not you holding the shovel". This is the earliest written record of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and it is the embryonic form of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. There is also a poem "Han Guang" related to the Weaver Girl, which says that "Han has a wandering girl and can't think about it". According to historical records, the word "Han" in the poem refers to Hanshui and Tianhan (Galaxy), and the word "wandering girl" refers to the goddess of Hanshui or Vega.
Chu people are far away from Jianghan area and attach great importance to the "prodigal girl in the late Han Dynasty". In addition, among Chu people, Altair is often confused with Hegu Samsung. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the annotation in the book Chronicle of Jingchu written by Nanyang Zonggu said: "Cowherd star, Jingzhou is called' Hegu'". In Nanyang Han Dynasty stone relief "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl Constellation", the river drum is the cow.
Nanyang, located in the north of Hanshui River, is known as "lying on the pillow and riding Jianghan, covering three mountains and bringing lakes". During the Warring States Period, Nanyang belonged to Chu, and Chu was in Danyang, Xichuan, which was the birthplace of Chu culture with profound cultural accumulation. This historical and cultural background is one of the important conditions for the formation of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Nanyang Han Dynasty Stone Relief and Stars
The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid originated from the worship of stars in ancient times, which is the result of people deifying and personalizing the stars in the sky. Altair is located in the east of the Milky Way, Vega is located in the west of the Milky Way, and the two stars face each other across the river, which makes people have endless reverie.
The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid originated in Chu State. In the Han Dynasty, with the development of astronomy, its legends became more extensive, concrete, vivid and vivid, and became important materials for painting and sculpture.
The Han Dynasty is an important period in the history of astronomy development in China. Nanyang in the Han Dynasty is one of the famous cities in China, and it has become the intersection of the development of culture and science and technology in the north and south. The collision of various cultural factors has produced profound cultural accumulation. A generation of astronomy master Zhang Heng was born here. In this context, a large number of Han Dynasty stone reliefs have appeared in Nanyang, among which the "Cowherd and Weaver Girl Constellation" vividly combines stars with legends, which is a historical necessity and one of the powerful evidences that the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl originated in Nanyang.
Nanyang Silk and Weaver Girl
According to documents, sericulture and silk industry existed in Nanyang Zhou Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, Nanyang County was one of the eight silk producing areas in China. The "Imperial Daughter Mulberry" recorded in Dunan Fu by Zhang Heng in the Eastern Han Dynasty came from Nanyang and became famous all over the world.
Many versions of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are inseparable from the weaving technology of the Weaver Girl. In the folklore of Tian Kai, the birthplace of Pangu, it is recorded how the Weaver Girl taught the skills of sericulture, reeling and weaving. This is closely related to the famous Nanyang silk. Begging for Qiao, a custom activity originated from Valentine's Day in China, is mainly because the Weaver Girl is the "daughter of the Emperor of Heaven" and is ingenious and admired by girls on earth. Today, when people talk about begging for cleverness, they often quote the record of "Dream in a Dream" written by Nanyang people in the Southern and Northern Dynasties: July 7 is the night when Petunia and Weaver Girl get together. Mari Nishino
Are other women wearing colorful buildings, seven-hole needles or gold and silver? ? Stone is the needle, and Chen Guaguo is clever in court.
According to the History of Chu State published by Henan University Press, "Jingchu starts from southern Henan in the north, Hengyang in the south and Jiujiang in the east. The' Jingchu' referred to in the literature before the Western Zhou Dynasty should be in the area from Nanyang Basin to Jianghan Plain in Henan Province. " So Nanyang is located in the land of Jingchu, thus forming the custom of begging for cleverness, as evidenced by a folk song:
Tonight on Tanabata, I looked at the blue sky and led the cowherd and weaver girl across the river bridge.
Every family watches the autumn moon, and every family wears HongLing.
The above witnessed the initial relationship between the Weaver Girl in Kit Kat and Nanyang Silk.
Nanyang in folklore
The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is widely circulated among the people all over the country, with many versions, but the core content is basically the same. Myths and legends have formed the same story from birth to spread. Generally speaking, adhering to the place name and scenery of the place of origin is a manifestation of the localization of myths and legends, which makes people feel emotionally or intuitively that this story is more credible and spread more widely.
According to many modern folk publications, most of them record that the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl originated in Nanyang. For example, Cheng Jianjun said in "Folk Myth" by Haiyan Publishing House (1997) that Cowherd was a mulberry man in Nanyang County, while "Su Jie" by Religious Culture Publishing House and "China Folk Art Encyclopedia" by Three Gorges Publishing House all recorded that "it is said that a long time ago, there was a wise man in Niujiazhuang, west of Nanyang. In Tongbai County, Nanyang, the birthplace of Pangu Tiankai, there is another version of the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl: When Pangu created the world, because there was no food on the ground at that time, cows stole food from the barn and scattered it to the world, and were given heaven by the Jade Emperor, and their legs were broken. Sun Ruyi cured the cow with Baihua dew, and the cow helped the cowherd and the weaver girl become a family. Later, regardless of punishment, the scalper helped Weaver and Cowherd steal silkworm blue, silkworm eggs, looms and looms from the Heavenly Palace. Since then, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl have been working together and living happily. This story also describes how the Weaver Girl taught the skills of sericulture, silk reeling and silk weaving.
The characters and places in different versions of the legend all point to Nanyang, which fully conforms to the characteristics of the localization of myths and legends.
Nanyang cattle has a long history.
The localization of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is not only related to the characters, places and places in the legend, but also reflects the obvious characteristics of agricultural areas. Cattle raising is an indispensable labor force in agricultural areas and the main "productivity" of farming. At the same time, the cow is also the main role in the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Nanyang Yellow Cattle is one of the top five thoroughbred cattle in China, enjoying a high reputation at home and abroad. Nanyang cattle have a long history, and naturally there are many stories of "cattle": "Funiu Mountain", "Chang 'e Black Cattle" and "Priscilla Cattle Raising" ... among which Cowherd and Weaver Girl are the most wonderful. Today, Nanyang is a large agricultural area, and the agricultural field in Han Dynasty is also brilliant. Zhang Heng praised his hometown's "Nanfu", which is said to be "a hundred valleys, two wings and harmony".
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Nanyang yellow cattle had entered the stage of house feeding and enclosure feeding. A native of Qin Xiang Bai Li Xi, he is good at raising cattle. In his down-and-out life, he lived by herding cattle in Qilingang, west of Nanyang. He once heard that Zhou Tianzi liked cattle, that is, raising cattle as a ladder to meet him, which was a much-told story. In the Han Dynasty, bullfighting became a popular activity in Nanyang at that time, and a large number of cattle images appeared in the world-famous Han Dynasty stone relief in Nanyang.
It is not surprising that such a "cow" culture has produced a "cowherd" in Niujiazhuang, west of Nanyang City.
Inheritance of "Niu" Cultural Heritage
Today, the Han Dynasty stone relief "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" more than 2,000 years ago still remains in Nanyang, and "Niujiazhuang in the west of Nanyang ..." has been widely circulated for a long time. Nanyang Silk is still well-known at home and abroad, and Nanyang Yellow Cattle ranks among the top five thoroughbred cattle in China, which derives from today's Yellow Cattle Festival. Such a rich cultural heritage continues to this day, which fully proves that the legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" originated in Nanyang, which is the pride of Nanyang people and the pride of the Chinese nation.
On May 20th this year, Tanabata was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council, which is another opportunity for Nanyang to go out of the basin and go to the world. This cannot be ignored. It is a treasure in Nanyang culture and a rich cultural heritage left by our ancestors. We have no reason not to love it or inherit it.
Run tanabata
China Valentine's Day "July 7th" in 20 16 coincides with leap July, and there are two Valentine's Days in China once every 38 years, namely July 3rd1and August 30th in the solar calendar. Note: leap year appears in the lunar calendar because there are about 354 days in the lunar calendar and 365 days in the solar calendar, with a difference of about 1 1 day. In order to balance the differences between them, there should be 7 leap months every 19 lunar calendar.