Chinese Valentine's Day
 On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month on the
Chinese lunar calendar, don't forget to look carefully at the summer sky. You'll
find the Cowherd (a bright star in the constellation Aquila, west of the Milky
Way) and the Weaving Maid (the star Vega, east of the Milky Way) appear closer
together than at any other time of the year. Chinese believe the stars are
lovers who are permitted to meet by the queen of Heaven once a year. That day
falls on the double seventh (Qixi in Chinese), which is China's own Valentine's
Day.
Most Chinese remember being told a romantic tragedy when they were children
on the double seventh. In the legend, the cowherd and the Weaving Maid will meet
on a bridge of magpies across the Milky Way once a year. Chinese grannies will
remind children that they would not be able to see any magpies on that evening
because all the magpies have left to form a bridge in the heavens with their
wings.
 To Love and to Wait -- A Romantic Legend
The legend holds that an orphaned cowherd was mistreated by his elder brother
and sister-in-law, who eventually gave him an old ox and chased him out. The
cowherd worked hard, and after only a couple of years he owned a small farm and
house. He was lonely, however, with only the company of that faithful old ox.
One day the ox suddenly opened its mouth and talked, telling the cowherd that
the heavenly Weaving Maid and her sisters were going to bathe in the Silver
River. The Weaving Maid was said to be the youngest of the seven daughters of
the Queen of Heaven. With her sisters, she worked hard to weave beautiful clouds
in the sky.
The ox told the cowherd that he should go there to rob the Weaving Maid of
her clothes while she was in the water. In exchange for the return of her
clothes, she would become his wife. Surprised, the cowherd willingly followed
the ox's instructions and hid himself in the reeds at the riverbank, waiting for
the girls to bathe.
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