Ancient Traditions and Modern Celebrations of Qixi Festival

Chinese Valentine’s Day, known as Qixi, extends beyond flowers and chocolates. While some contemporary couples embrace romance, Qixi roots itself in legend, prayer, and enduring cultural practices. The festival, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese calendar, fell on August 19 in 2026. Observances occur in places like Singapore, Vietnam, and other Asian regions.

Cultural Activities in Beijing

In Beijing, the Folk Custom Museum hosted an event called ‘Asking for Skills.’ This tradition highlights women historically praying for skillfulness and showcasing their talents through crafts. Jia Juan, from the museum’s Public Education Department, remarked, “We especially hope that young audiences can understand the meaning of our traditional festivals through interactive and engaging experiences.” Located in the Dongyue Taoist Temple, the museum has organized Qixi activities for 14 years, attracting around 500 participants each time.

Wednesday’s program began with Chinese classical music, followed by family activities reflecting traditional Qixi customs. One activity included dyeing fingernails with garden balsam, a natural pigment linked to beauty and blessings. Another involved Song brocade bead painting, merging valuable Chinese silk with pearls symbolizing wholeness and prosperity.

Participants crafted sachet-shaped Song brocade pearl paintings, embodying ‘qiqiao,’ a concept focusing on skill and dexterity. Wang Xuejie and her 7-year-old daughter made ‘qiaoguo,’ a decorative pastry, gaining insight into historical aspirations and hopes during the Qixi Festival.

The Legend and Tradition of Qixi

Jia explained that girls began practicing qiqiao in the Tang and Song dynasties, from the 7th to the 13th centuries. The festival links to ancient star worship and study. Qixi features two main aspects: its romantic legend and the qiqiao practice. In Chinese mythology, Zhinü, a weaver girl symbolized by the Vega star, loves Niulang, a cowherd denoted by the Altair star. Their forbidden love causes the Jade Emperor to separate them across the Milky Way, allowing them to reunite once a year, forming a bridge of magpies.

The Cowherd and Weaver Girl story dates to the pre-Qin period, before 221 B.C. During the Han Dynasty, qiqiao customs began to evolve. These practices eventually spread beyond China.

Reviving Qixi Abroad

Lynn Wong strives to revive Qixi in Singapore via ‘Qixi Fest,’ initiated in 2023. This year’s event runs until August 23. “We’re trying to create the childhood memories of this new generation of Singaporeans so that they grow up with the stories our forefathers grew up with,” Wong noted.

Wong discovered Qixi while conversing with a friend about Chinese festivals, prompting research into elder memories, now documented in a book. Qixi arrived in Singapore around the 1930s with Chinese women migrants. As migration patterns shifted, they brought customs and beliefs, some of which have since faded.

“I feel that in my generation, we lost quite a lot of our roots,” Wong expressed. Despite growing up with stories like ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ she questions the stories her forefathers cherished.

Qixi’s Endurance in Families

Hor Xin Hao, of Cantonese heritage, maintains Qixi traditions in Singapore. Late on the sixth day of the seventh lunar month, his family sets up a prayer table facing the night sky. They pray past midnight, offering gifts to the Seven Maidens, including the Weaver Girl. Gifts like incense, flowers, perfume, cosmetics, and soap promise beauty and charm, blessed by the cowherd and seven maidens.

“I personally feel that the idea of a Valentine’s Day actually reduces the original idea behind the festival,” Hor remarked. He sees Qixi as a celebration of traditional values and ancestral heritage, reflecting on the interplay between humans and the universe.

Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this coverage.