Chinese Valentine's Day
Qi xi jie
nu er jie
magpie festival

Origin - either the han or the jing dynasty

Story: A cowherd is a good man and a hard worker. One day, because he is such a good man, the cowherd's magical ox tells him to go to the river and there he will find his true love. He does this and he sees 7 girls bathing in the river. He steals their clothes and runs away. The sisters cannot return to heaven without their clothes, so they send the youngest girl to retrieve them. He says that he will only give them back if she marries him, so she agrees. Because f their marriage, the girl laid off her weaving, so the Jade emperor got angry and banished them to opposite sides of the milky way galaxy (some say grandma draws a line with her hairpin). The only day the two lovers are allowed to be together is on the 7th day of the 7th month of the chinese lunar calender, hence to festival of lovers. In some stories magpies build a bridge over the Milky Way on this one day of the year.

Traditions:

• Married, dating, or single people go to the temple to pray for love or good marriage

• people decorate ox's horns because of the ox in the story
• girls throw ropes of 5 different colors for the magpies to build the bridge.
• Women wash their hair with special substances
• children wash faces with overnight water for a special sheen
• women put needle into bowl of water. if it floats, they are good at embroidery
• throw 1/2 of some makeup over the roof as a tribute to the weaving maiden. Other half is divided between women to make them beautiful
• shrines made from fresh fruit, flowers, and paper

Taboos:

• Don't go out at night- ghost month

Ghost Festival


15th day of 7th month of lunar calendar.

origin- Buddhist Ullambana festival. Also roots in Daoism

Story- Maudmagayana, or Mu lian, finds out that his mother is in hell because she was greedy with the money he left her. He is determined to save her soul, but can't end her perpetual hunger because the food turns into charcoal when he gives it to her (her neck is too skinny for the food to pass through it). He gets her reincarnated as a dog by preforming a ritual of chanting and dumping food onto clean ground. Once she is a dog, still unsatisfied, he gathers 1000 monks to pray for her salvationa nd she is reincarnated into a human. ( some say 10 monks of the order. Another says 12 for the signs of the zodiac.)

• day when gates of heaven, hell, and earth align
• ghosts visit loved ones
• prayers for the redemption of lost souls
• food and drinks served outside to keep ghosts out of house
• door panel keeps ghosts from entering (they can't bend their knees)
• burn paper money and items to pacify ghosts
• lanterns guide them back to the underworld
• smoke from burning incense leads ghosts up to heaven
• performances- first row left open for the ghosts
• most shops closed

Taboos

• don't start a business, get married, or any other important event
• no swimming- the hgosts will drag you under
• any child born during the month will have their birth date changed upon registration

Other Countries

• Cambodia- Picham Ben 10th month- offerings to ghosts and monks
• Mexico- El dia de los muertios- alters at cemeteries- souls come back to visit