Qi Xi Festival - Celebrating Love on the Night of Sevens

Forgot to celebrate Valentine's Day? If you are a traveler in China there is always the Qi Xi Festivaln- the Chinese equivalent. The festival which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month according to the original Chinese lunar calendar is also known as the Night of Sevens.

According to Chinese folklore the Qi Xi Festival celebrates the tale of two lovers that were tragically separated. A young shepherd Niulang sees seven gorgeous fairy sisters bathing and decides to steal their clothes. While attempting to retrieve the clothes one fairy incidentally also the most gorgeous - Zhinü falls in love with Niulang and they conclude to get married. However The Goddess of Heaven becomes infuriated that a fairy had married a mere mortal and orders the fairy to return to heaven. Desperate to be reunited with his wife, Niulang kills his ox and puts on its hide and flies to heaven. Further infuriated by the persistence of the shepherd the goddess separates the two lovers by forming the Milky Way.

However, once a year on the Night of Sevens magpies in an effort to reunite the lovers soar up into to heaven and fly across the Milky Way. In celebrating this classic tale of disgruntled lovers, women across China demonstrate their domestic skills such as melon carving and wish that they too find a lover as careful as Niulang.

Among the other traditions of the Qi Xi Festival is to make offerings of fruit, flowers and face powder to Niulang and Zhinu. Half of the powder is sprinkled on the roof of the house while the rest is divided among the women of the household; it is thought that the women will gather Zhinu's attractiveness straight through this ritual. For travelers staying at Beijing hotel such as the Raffles Beijing Hotel, China these rituals can de facto be observed in the city.

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