# Qixi Festival

By [golgo](https://paragraph.com/@golgo13) · 2022-08-04

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The **Qixi Festival** ([Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language): 七夕), also known as the **Qiqiao Festival** (Chinese: 七巧), is a [Chinese festival](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_festival) celebrating the annual meeting of [Zhinü and Niulang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowherd_and_the_Weaver_Girl) in [Chinese mythology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology). The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunisolar month on the [Lunisolar calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunisolar_calendar).

The festival was derived from worship of natural astrology. It is called "Qixi Festival" because of the traditional worship of the seventh elder sister on the occasion of her birthday, held on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month. Gradually, people celebrated for the romantic legend of two lovers, Zhinü and Niulang, who were the weaver girl and the cowherd, respectively. The tale of [_The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowherd_and_the_Weaver_Girl) has been celebrated in the Qixi Festival since the [Han dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty). The earliest-known reference to this famous myth dates back to over 2600 years ago, which was told in a poem from the [_Classic of Poetry_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Poetry). The Qixi festival inspired the [Tanabata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata) festival in [Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan), [Chilseok](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilseok) festival in [Korea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea), and [Thất Tịch](https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%E1%BA%A5t_T%E1%BB%8Bch) festival in [Vietnam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam).

The festival has variously been called the **Double Seventh Festival**, the **Chinese Valentine's Day**, the **Night of Sevens**, or the **Magpie Festival**.

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*Originally published on [golgo](https://paragraph.com/@golgo13/qixi-festival)*