What are the seven fairies in the sky in ancient China mythology?

The seven fairies are the general name of the seven goddesses in ancient China mythology. Sometimes it refers to the smallest one in Seven Sisters alone.

The origin of the Seven Immortals: First, the worship of astronomy is related to the seven stars of the female household basket, the seven stars of the Pleiades, the three stars of the female household weaver and the four stars of the female household. The second is the image of feather people, which is produced by the concept of immortals in Qin and Han Dynasties.

People generally call this Seven Sisters "Big Immortal, Two Immortals, Three Immortals, Four Immortals, Five Immortals, Six Immortals and Seven Immortals" (privately matched with Yong Dong).

The legendary stories of the seven fairies are mostly recorded in fairy tales such as "The Match of Heaven" and The Journey to the West. Most of them appear in Ming and Qing operas, and are often passed down from mouth to mouth as the daughters of the queen mother and female officials.

Since the Han Dynasty, there have been many records about the myth of the Seven Immortals. There were scripts in the Song Dynasty. Yuan zaju is more common in traditional Chinese opera.

Ming dynasty is still common in traditional Chinese opera, but it is rare in novels of Ming dynasty. Yong Dong's wife's name "Gucci" was first mentioned in the tapestry of Ming Dynasty operas.

The Journey to the West, a novel in Ming Dynasty, also mentioned the specific names of the Seven Immortals: "Red Immortal, Tsing Yi Immortal, plain clothes Immortal, Soap Immortal, Purple Immortal, Huang Xian, and Green Immortal", and thought that the Seven Immortals were dressed in seven colors, which seemed to be related to the seven colors.

But there are also legends that seven immortals are dressed in seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

Song and Yuan operas combined with folk tales of past dynasties formed a relatively complete drama such as "Immortal Couple" in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The content is basically: Yong Dong was born in a poor family and sold himself to bury his father. The youngest of the Seven Weavers in the sky loves her and pities her. She privately married Yong under the pagoda tree and went to the brocade outside Fu Yuan to pay her debts.

After the expiration of 100 days, we intend to return to China and build a better life in the future. The jade emperor suddenly sent the seven fairies back to heaven. The seven fairies were worried that Yong Dong would suffer, so they had to say goodbye to the locust tree and die in tears.

Extended data:

Folk belief

The myth of the Seven Immortals originated from the people. Legends about Yong Dong are spread all over the country, not local myths produced in a certain area.

Compare countless oral legends around the world. This legend can be seen in some parts of Shui Bo. Seven fairies sang and danced, bathed or washed clothes in Shui Bo (washing colorful clothes in the water may be related to the story of the rainbow sucking water). Their morphology often changes between waterfowl and human form. In mythology, water is mostly related to the sad legend of the goddess.

Seven Sisters's combined image, Dong Qi's marriage and other elements often appear in cultural customs. For example, on the fifteenth night of the first month of every year, girls dressed in costumes gather near the flying shuttle stone, holding sewing boxes and asking for advice from Qi Mei, singing begging songs. After singing Qiao Qi's songs, you should also ask about your quality of life, good luck, whether you can get married and so on.

There are temples with the elements of the Seven Immortals everywhere among the people. Seven Sisters sometimes worships together, sometimes separately, and both the Lord and his companions worship.

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