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And another festival about love we may think of is the Double Seventh Festival, which is also called China’s "Valentine's Day". Instead of being popular, the Double Seventh Festival has been left out and forgotten by many Chinese people gradually. People don’t remember the customs on the 7th day in the 7th lunar month that the young girls should compete to thread a needle in the moonlight for becoming ingenious. Besides, people can sit in the moon to watch the Altair and Vega.
The ancients said that the moon of our hometown is brighter than elsewhere. But from the current situation of the Double Seventh Festival and Valentine's Day, it’s appropriate to say that the moon of the west is always brighter than ours. In China, the reasons that Valentine’s Day has becoming so popular among young people may be that young people are curious about new things and they want to follow the western trends. However, these people who pursue Valentine’s Day enthusiastically may know little about the festival cultural connotations, let alone learn about our own festival culture, for example, the Double Seventh Festival earnestly. Through the comparative analysis of similarities and differences between Chinese Double Seventh Festival and Valentine’s Day, this paper would help us to think deeply about the two festivals and help us to treat them with a reasonable attitude. In addition, it’s also beneficial to remind us to pay more attention to our traditional culture when we absorb foreign culture.源!自`751~文)论(文]网[www.751com.cn
II. The Origins and Customs of the Double Seventh Festival and Valentine’s Day
2.1 The Origin and Customs of the Double Seventh Festival
The legend about a Cowherd and a weaver maid originated from the astronomical picture composed of Altair and Vega. Earlier, the deification of Altair and Vega could be found in the Book of Songs. There are no love stories and legends about them until the Han Dynasty when their love story emerged.源!自`751~文)论(文]网[www.751com.cn
According to the legend, in ancient times, there was a truthful and virtuous young man named Niu Lang (Cowherd). The untimely death of his parents made his childhood very tragic that he often was bullied by his brother and his sister-in-law. They asked Niu Lang to do lots of heavy work and never gave him delicious and enough food. At last, the poor man was even driven out of his home by his brother and his sister-in-law with nothing but an old ox. However, the ox was not same to the other oxen at all. It was the ox that was banished to the earth by the Jade Emperor, for violating the laws of the heaven. So it decided to help the young man when it saw his miserable situation. One day, it suddenly started to speak and tell the cowboy that there were seven fairies bathing at the bottom of the lake in the east of the mountain every day. And as long as the cowherd took away one of the fairies’ clothes, the fairy who would never go back to the heaven without clothes. So Niu Lang did as it said and fell in love with Zhi Nv, the Weaver maid who had lost her clothes. Then the two people in love got marriage and gave birth to a boy and a girl, living a happy life. Sadly, the old ox died before long. However, the ox told the couple to peel its leather for a rainy day before death. Sure enough, the news of Niu Lang and Zhi Nv falling in love put the God of Heaven into a towering rage and he ordered the Queen Mother to bring the Weaver Maid back. At that time, Niu Lang cast on the cow leather and flew after his wife. But when he was going to keep up with her, the Queen Mother took down one of her hairpins and made a stroke. One choppy river appeared and separated the Cowherd and Weaver Maid. They couldn’t do anything but cry. Fortunately, their love story moved the tens of thousands of magpies that came to build a bridge for the Niu Lang and Zhi Nv to meet each other. Eventually, the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother also were touched, permitting the ill-fated family to meet each year on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. So that day they can meet each other has been called “Qi Xi” (the Double Seventh Festival). Besides, it’s said that it may rain on the night of the Double Seventh Festival, because it’s the tears of joy of reunion between the couple.