Chinese Mythology · Folk tale / seasonal custom
The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and Qixi Ingenuity-Seeking
A year of waiting for a single night, and the Magpie Bridge stands for one night only — China's Valentine's Day began as a prayer for "skill," not only for love.
Stories and legends
On the east bank of the River of Heaven, the Weaver Girl, granddaughter of the Heavenly Emperor (in one version, of the Queen Mother), wove cloud brocade and heavenly garments day after day; on the west bank, the Cowherd was an orphan on earth, abused by his elder brother and sister-in-law, who received only an old ox when the family property was divided. On its deathbed the old ox spoke: on a certain day the immortal maidens would bathe in the river — hide the Weaver Girl's feather robe, and she would stay. The Cowherd did as told and married the Weaver Girl; he farmed and she wove, and they had a son and a daughter. When the old ox died it left its hide, instructing him to wear it in an emergency to fly to heaven. The Queen Mother learned of the secret marriage to a mortal and sent heavenly soldiers to seize the Weaver Girl back; the Cowherd wrapped himself in the ox hide, carried the children in baskets, and gave chase. Just as he was about to catch up, the Queen Mother pulled out her golden hairpin and swept it across the sky, drawing out the surging River of Heaven. The two wept across the river, and the magpies, moved by their love, link tail to tail every year on the seventh day of the seventh month to form the Magpie Bridge, letting them meet for one night; it is said that on that night, beneath a grape trellis, one can hear them whispering to each other, while the women of the human world thread needles by moonlight and float needles to test their skill, begging the Weaver Girl for a pair of clever hands. In another, older version (see this entry's History and Origins) there is no stolen-robe marriage at all: the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd were star gods who, having neglected their weaving after marriage, were separated in punishment — an admonition about love and livelihood was the story's original intent.
Origins of the story
The star prototypes appear in the Book of Songs （诗经） · Xiaoya （小雅） · Da Dong （大东）, with the two stars of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl; the story took shape in the Han and Wei, and the Nineteen Old Poems （古诗十九首） — "Far, far away, the Cowherd star" — already has the framework of longing; episodes such as the stolen robe, the ox hide, and the Magpie Bridge are accretions after the Song and Yuan. The "Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" was entered in 2008 into the second batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list (declaring localities: Heshun in Shanxi and Yiyuan in Shandong; extended in 2011 to Chang'an District, Xi'an); the "Qiqiao Festival (Xihe Qiqiao)" was listed in the same batch. The claims of Yiyuan as "hometown of the legend," of Doumen in Xi'an, and of Heshun in Shanxi coexist — all are the accounts of declaring localities, and there is no settled conclusion of a single place of origin.
Customs
In the Qiqiao rituals, stages such as "fetching the water" and "begging for the skill token" are presided over by local women inheritors — visitors should only watch and not snatch the ritual implements; in the needle-floating skill test, do not mock in public, especially on a windy day, those whose needles show "no skill"; in some regions Qixi is also a "Daughters' Festival," and elders avoid scolding girls learning needlework on this day; the Magpie Bridge meeting is a legend — do not demand that scenic areas "guarantee" an experience of seeing magpies form a bridge.
Places you can visit
The Cowherd and Weaver Girl Scenic Area in Yiyuan, Zibo, Shandong (the Weaver Girl's Cave and the Cowherd Temple; a site of local legend); the legend site of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in Doumen Town, Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi; the Qiqiao Festival in Xihe County, Longnan, Gansu (usually performed for several days from the end of the 6th lunar month to the 7th day of the 7th month, with a complete cycle of rituals — singing for skill, welcoming skill, sending off skill — as officially announced each year); the Cowherd and Weaver Girl cultural tourism area in Heshun, Shanxi.
Image source · Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0