Happy Chinese Valentine's Day!

For the past two years, D and I have been apart on Valentine's Day. It's not a holiday that we really celebrate, but it made me sad to think of all the loved ones sharing a special night together while were in two different countries. When I woke up this morning, I learned that we didn't have to miss celebrating Valentine's Day this year after all! Today is the Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine's Day.

To summarize the meaning behind this holiday, there is a "lonely cowherd named Niulang who comes across seven immortal fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Niulang falls in love with the youngest fairy named Zhinu, a weaver girl. The two lovers get married, have two children and live happily on earth. Everything was going well until the Goddess of Heaven finds out about the forbidden relationship between a mortal and a fairy. She pulls Zhinu into the skies and even Niulang’s efforts to reach Zhinu is no use as the Goddess divided the sky with a river.

Zhinu lived on one side of the river crafting embroidery, while Niulang lived on the other side taking care of their two sons. Nevertheless, each year magpies will fly to the sky to form a bridge across the river so that Zhinu and Niulang can be together for a night.

This romantic story coincides with the night sky. Niulang is the star Altair and Zhinu is the star Vega. The river separating the lovers is the Milky Way and the magpies are the cluster of stars seen in the Cygnus constellation. On the seventh night of the seventh lunar month, the stars Altair and Vega appear to be moving closer to each other. Light drizzle is also common that night, which are the tears of the two lovers." ---Yi from My Several Worlds

The Qixi Festival falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar. Traditionally, young girls would carve melons and wish for a good husband. Since the weather report says it feels like 101F today, I think I might just carve a watermelon to keep us refreshed. While I'm carving, however, I won't have to make that wish for a good husband, because that wish already came true 2 years ago this past week!

Today is one of the busiest wedding days in China since the holiday falls on a Saturday and it is said to be good luck to get married on this day. Since we are such international wedding attendees, I'm actually quite surprised we weren't invited to a wedding today!

On the night of the Qixi Festival young lovers sit outside and gaze at the stars. We have quite a nice view of the harbor from our flat so I'll be sure to glace up at the sky tonight. D and I may not be exchanging gifts and cards, but we plan on having our favorite Chinese dish, Peking Duck, tonight in honor of this special Chinese day of love.