The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the "Qixi Festival" originated from the theory of celestial phenomena and stars. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there are records of "Cowherd" and "Weaver Girl" in "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Dadong". Here, the Weaver Girl and Altair are only used as natural star images to elicit a metaphorical association, without any storyline. At this time, they only serve as a cultural factor and begin to enter the larger system of literature. It is this "factor" that prepares the potential cultural conditions for the generation of this legend. Wang Yi's "Shou Zhi", Volume 17 of "Chu Ci Chapters and Sentences": "The sky is held up to conceal evil spirits, and the sky arc is used to shoot out rapes." It expresses the theory of the marriage of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
The horoscopes of Cowherd and Weaver Girl in the Western Han Dynasty evolved into touching myths and legends. In the third year of Yuanshou (120 BC), Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, in order to conquer the southwestern countries, train naval forces, and dig Kunming Pool. There are stone statues of Cowherd and Weaver Girl on the east and west sides of the pool, facing each other across the river. There is a sentence in Ban Gu's "Xidu Fu": "Next to the Kunming pool, the Cowherd is on the left and the Weaver Girl is on the right, just like the boundless clouds and Han Dynasties." Li Shan The annotation quoted from "Han Palace Queshu" says: "There are two stone figures in Kunming Pool, a statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl." The wonderful legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl came from heaven to the earth, and has been widely spread in the land of China.
With the passage of time, the Weaver Girl and the Morning Cow have been said to be two gods. The stone carvings of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl by the Kunming Pool are also respected by the local people as the "Shi Ye God" and "Shi Po God". Over time, people respected and became superstitious about stone statues, and began to worship them. In the 14th year of Zhenyuan (798 AD) of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, the Weaver Girl Temple was built and enshrined. Incense has been flourishing for thousands of years.
The "Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" in Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2010.
There are two tall stone statues in Nanfeng Village, Doumen Town, Chang'an District, Xi'an, which the locals call "Shi Po" and "Shi Ye". According to reports, these two stone statues are more than 2,100 years old.
In the third year of Yuanshou (120 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he stood by the Kunming Pool at all times when he "sent officials to cross the Kunming Pool." It is commonly known as "Shi Ye Shi Po". The current statue of the Cowherd is located in the north of Changjiazhuang Village, Doumen Town, Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and the statue of the Weaver Girl is located in the cotton spinning factory of Doumen Town. The distance between the two is about 3 kilometers.
In the 14th year of Zhenyuan (798 AD) of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, the "Shi Ye Temple" and "Shi Po Temple" were built here. Incense has been popular for thousands of years, and the large-scale folk cultural activities of worshiping the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on the Chinese Valentine's Day still remain.
"Shipo Temple" is also called "Weaver Girl Temple". On the wall outside the temple gate, there is a large piece of red paper, which records the amount of money donated by the villagers to build the temple.
When you step into the hall, you can see the guarded stone statue of the Weaver Girl and the merit box. The stone statue is wearing clothes. If you look closely, you can see that its shape and lines are quite rough, so that some people asked, "Is this Shi Po or Shi Ye?"
Every year on the 17th of the first lunar month and the 7th of the seventh lunar month, the place is crowded with people and the place is very popular. It can be used for further education, marriage, or having children, and it is very effective.
A research article claims that the "Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" originated from Doumen Town, Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. The local area has gradually formed two large-scale events every year (on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, some say it is the marriage of the cow girl on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month. They meet on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month), as well as the practice of going to the temple on the first and fifteenth day of each month. As we all know, the Central Plains is an important birthplace of Chinese civilization. The folk culture of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated in the area where agricultural civilization first developed on the land of China. The farming civilization was first formed in the area around the Songshan Mountains in the Central Plains where the climate and geographical conditions are very favorable. Rushui and Huishui plains to the south of Songshan Mountain were the areas where our ancestors first carried out agricultural production. They were also the places where agricultural civilization was most developed during the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period, Qin, Han, Jin and other dynasties. A famous town in Zhongyuan, Lushan County, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province. It was established under the Xia and Shang Dynasties and has a long history. There are several chronicles of Lushan County, including the earliest "Lushan County Chronicle" of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty and the place names of cities, counties and townships. For the place names of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Legends and stories are recorded. "Place Name Chronicles of Pingdingshan City", "Place Name Chronicles of Lushan County", "Place Name Chronicles of Xinji Township in Lushan County (administering Lufeng Mountain)" and other books contain: "In ancient times, there was a young man named Sun Mingshouyi in this village, who was honest and simple. He often grazes cows on Lushan Mountain, and is commonly known as Cowherd. One day, the nine daughters of the Jade Emperor were bathing in Gentan on Lushan Mountain. Sun Shouyi took away the clothes of Ninth Sister (the Weaver Girl), and she married the Cowherd. The descendants are the villagers of the Sun family in Sunyi Village at the southwest foot of Lufeng Mountain. 80% of the villagers in this village have the surname Sun. They all respect the Cowherd as their ancestor, the Weaver Girl as Jiu Laogu or Jiugu Nai, Laozu Nai, and "God" as "Lao Tianye". Heavenly Father".
There are more than ten relics related to the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl around Lufeng Mountain (also known as Lushan Mountain and Lushanshan Mountain). The "Lushan County Chronicle" written by Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty is the earliest existing chronicle of Lushan. According to the annals: "Cowherd Cave, halfway down the mountain from Ruiyun Temple, facing south, houses the God of Cowherd...Nine Girls (it is said that the Weaver Girl is the Nine Daughters of the Jade Emperor) Pool, located eighteen miles northeast of the county under Mount Lu. There are Nine Nv and Dragon King Temples on the pool. "In the Ruiyun Temple on the top of Lufeng Mountain, there is the Cowherd and Weaver Girl Hall, which contains colorful sculptures of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl's family portraits and murals; in front of the Ruiyun Temple is the Nantian Gate, which is said to be the place where the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl went to heaven; halfway up the mountain Cowherd Cave is said to be the place where Cowherd lived and married Weaver Girl; there is a stone wall hanging 7 meters in front of the cave, which is said to be Weaver Girl's dressing table. In March 2008, the Lushan County Cultural Relics Institute excavated Niulang Cave and found that the cave entrance was built with Han bricks. They also unearthed black porcelain bowls and jar fragments from the Tang and Song Dynasties, as well as porcelain cup fragments and copper boxes from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Decorations, copper coins, etc., it can be seen that the people of Lushan have worshiped the Cowherd here for a long time.
There is a Cowherd grave 800 meters southwest of Niulang Cave, and his descendants often come here to worship their ancestors. There is a giant white stone platform 5 meters high and 5 meters wide at the ridge on the west slope, known as Liangshi Platform. Or the Liangsheng Terrace, which is said to be a place where the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl sang and danced. Not far from the Liangshi Terrace, there is the Jiunu Lake with an area of ??about 40 square meters. A place where people pray for rain and a child. There are three main halls on the side of the pool. One is dedicated to the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother, one is dedicated to the nine daughters of the Jade Emperor, and the other is the Nine Nv Lingxiao Hall, where the nine females are the Weaver Girl. In front of the temple, the common people voluntarily erected a monument, which is called "The Divine Monument of the Nine Female Stars of the Galaxy in Nantianmen". The incense here is strong, and the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the most popular. Judging from the inheritance of the folk culture of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Lushan still retains unique and simple folk customs, folk songs and folk songs. In Sunyi Village, where the descendants of the Cowherd live, there are now three Sun ancestral halls from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which worship the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, his two sons and daughters, and the old scalper. Ancestor worship at Sun's Ancestral Hall is mainly held on the Laba Festival, Spring Festival, the second day of February, the seventh day of July and other days of the lunar calendar each year. When worshiping ancestors, ancestors must be invited from Niulangdong and Jiunu Lingxiao Hall, and then sent to ancestors. During ancestor worship, ancestor worship is performed. Singing, sprinkling wine, serving grains, etc. These folk customs are also consistent with the folk cultural heritage of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Lushan still retains the custom of worshiping cows, treating cows as members of the family. There are more than 40 place names with the word "niu" in Lushan. Lushan’s bull market is also very famous. The annual Chinese Valentine's Day Temple Fair was originally held in Sunyi Village, the hometown of the Cowherd (now moved to Xinji Street, where the township government is located). This is not only the busiest summer fair in Lushan, but also the best place to remember the origin of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in Lushan. evidence. Lushan has a history of planting tusks and raising silkworms. It is said that Lushan's silk weaving technology was taught by the Weaver Girl after she came to earth. Lushan silk is known as "Weaver Weaving" and "Fairy Weaving". In 1914, it won the gold medal at the World Exposition. Sericulture and silk weaving are still one of the main economic incomes for people in the Lushan Mountain area. Lushan people also like to plant "Nine Girls Flower". Jiuniangniang flower is the rape flower. It is said that the Weaver Girl brought it down from the sky to let the world spend the spring famine. People in Lushan also plant grapes in their courtyards. According to legend, when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet on the Magpie Bridge on the Chinese Valentine's Day, people can overhear their whispers while hiding under the grape trellis. Yanya Township, Yiyuan County, Shandong Province has the Zhinu Cave and Cowherd Temple, which were built in the Tang Dynasty. The two are facing each other from east to west across the Yi River. The landscape pattern on both sides of the river echoes the "Altair-Milky Way-Vega" in the sky. They are strikingly similar, forming a unique landscape of the unity of heaven and man and the magic of heaven and earth. Niulang Temple was originally a two-story attic-style building. After many renovations, it began to take shape. It has three main halls, green bricks and green tiles, and painted brackets. The building is magnificent. In the main hall of the temple, there are statues of the Cowherd and his children, and a statue of a golden bull lying next to it. There are towering ancient cypresses in the courtyard, which is quiet and unique.
The village next to Niulang Temple is called Niulang Guanzhuang. Most of the people in the village have the surname "Sun", which happens to be the same surname as Niulang (Sun Shouyi). This village existed during the Ming Dynasty. People in the village named Niulang "Sun". The descendants of Lang claim themselves and have passed down the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl from generation to generation. Customs such as raising silkworms, weaving cloth, and collecting Shuangqi water are still followed today. Every Chinese Valentine's Day, the women in Niulang Guanzhuang will happily fold gold ingots out of paper and enshrine them in the Weaver Girl's Cave.
There used to be a lot of stone tablets on Daxian Mountain in Yanya Township, Yiyuan County. However, because they were destroyed before, there are only a few intact ones. However, the contents engraved on all the stone tablets are related to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. More or less contact. There is a stone tablet "Zhinu Cave Chonglou Ji" which was erected in the seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1579).
The inscription records: "People from the Tang Dynasty in Zhiyun passed through the valley and heard the sound of the Zaza machine in the cave, so they named the Weaver Girl." This tells the origin of the Weaver Girl. It means that in the Tang Dynasty, someone passed by and heard the sound of the Zaza machine in the cave. He thought the Weaver Girl was weaving cloth, so he built the Weaver Girl Fairy Cave. The second sentence of the inscription - "The Cow Palace was built on the other side of the river, so what formed an image in the sky took shape on the earth...". Heshun, Shanxi Province, is a small mountainous county located at the top of the Taihang Mountains. It has long occupied a place in the hearts of the Chinese people because of a beautiful Han folklore. Previously, Heshun County was named the "Hometown of China's Cowherd and Weaver Girl Culture" by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and was later officially announced by the State Council as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage. This spring, it was once again named as "the first batch of national traditional festival (Qixi Festival) demonstration protected areas in Shanxi Province" by the Shanxi cultural department.
In the countryside of Heshun, many ancient place names and scenery names related to the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl have been passed down. Place names such as Niulang Cave, Jinniu Cave, Magpie Mountain, Nantianmen, Tianhe Pond, etc. correspond to the protagonists of the story, and beautiful stories are recited by the local people.
The legend and culture of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in Heshun County is a rare and valuable humanistic resource with high cultural and economic value. Smart Heshun people are relying on the unique cultural resources to build a cultural brand, enhance the overall image of the place, and enhance the comprehensive economic and social competitiveness.
Heshun County speeds up the rescue, development and utilization of traditional cultural resources and sings the cultural brand of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl". A new Shanxi opera "The Magpie Bridge Club" starring famous Shanxi opera masters from the provincial capital begins tonight at the Shanxi Provincial Performing Arts Center. In Heshun urban and rural areas, "Folk Paper-cut Works Exhibition", "Folk Fabric Velvet Painting and Traditional Chinese Medicine Painting Exhibition", and "Folk Handicraft Exhibition" were held one after another, including the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, Chinese Madonna, Fengtai Opera, Five Grain Paintings, Paper-cutting, Embroidery, etc. Humanities, history, allusions, legends and folk art are revealed by local skilled craftsmen.
"Chinese Valentine's Day" comes from the mythical story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Heshun County in Jinzhong District, Shanxi Province is an important area (not said to be the only area) where the romantic love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl occurred and developed. It is the inheritance and development of the Chinese Valentine's Day customs. Develop important regions with typical significance. In the area of ??less than 10 square kilometers of Nantianchi and Niulangyu in Heshun County, there are still 20 natural and cultural landscapes and scenery related to the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Judging from the place names, Tianheliang, Niulangyu, and Nantianchi Yumoziyu (簪yu) is a place name or village name that has been recorded in local chronicles for a long time. Other place names and related scenery names have been popular among the Han people for a long time. Today, you can see Niulanggou, Niulangdong, Tianhe Pond, Cowherd Temple, Weaver Girl Temple, Nantianmen, Jinniu Cave, Lao Niukou, Niutoushan, Xiangsibei, Magpie Mountain, etc., as well as the Queen Mother Temple, Li Tianwang Pagoda, Grinding Stone, etc., which have now been destroyed without a trace. The villagers have passed down the vivid story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the Chinese Valentine's Day customs from generation to generation. The overall environment is very harmonious with the plot of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. After many on-site inspections by relevant experts, on December 13, 2006, the China Folk Literature and Art Association officially named Heshun as the "Hometown of Chinese Cowherd and Weaver Girl Culture". The county's "Love Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" was listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Due to this story, Han folk in Shanxi Province used to call the Qixi Festival "Tianhe Pei". According to historical records, at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the Han people in Shanxi Province still retained the custom of tying up statues to celebrate the festival. People used branches and other objects to tie up a pair of young man and woman statues in the streets and alleys to represent the meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and offered fruits and melons in front of the statue. Peach and plum congratulations.
During the Qixi Festival, it is a popular activity among Han Chinese people for girls and daughters-in-law to ask the Weaver Girl for advice on craftsmanship, which is called "begging for skill". It is customary for Han people in southern Shanxi to weave the new wheat straw into a bridge and place it on their desks with the images of cowherd, weaver girl, old cow, boy and girl, magpie, etc.; After the Weaver Girl prays, she puts seven embroidery needles in her hands and threads a colored thread through the needle holes. Those who successfully pass through seven needle holes at one time are considered to be lucky. It is popular in Quwo County for boys and girls to throw star grass into the water to beg for luck. Folks in the northern Shanxi area have a custom of drying a basin of water in the courtyard during the day and letting the dust fall. At night, a thin film forms on the surface of the basin. The girl and her wife oil the embroidery needle and place it gently on the water. Anyone who can make the needle float on the surface is considered a beggar. What a coincidence.
In some places in northwest Shanxi, people place bean sprouts in basins of water. After being refracted by the water in the sun, the reflections on the bottom of the water will show various shapes, such as centipedes or water snakes, pigs, dogs, chickens and ducks. The richer and lifelike the reflections, the more begging for tricks. Girls in Changzhi area will catch a spider spinning silk in a box the day before the Chinese Valentine's Day, and observe the density of its web the next day. The denser the web, the more begging for tricks.
In Shanxi, boys also ask the Cowherd for advice on farming skills during the Chinese Valentine's Day. In some places in southern Shanxi, young men cover wooden boards or stone slabs with soil during the Chinese Valentine's Day to build a small scene of a thatched house. They plant millet seedlings in the fields next to the house, which is called "grain board". It is popular in central and northern Shanxi to soak wheat or beans in water to sprout sprouts, and during the Chinese Valentine's Day, colorful threads are used to wrap the sprouts around them, which is called "seeding sprouts". The shepherd boys in northwest Shanxi will weave garlands for the cattle, which is called "celebrating the birthday of the old cattle".
There is a lot of rainfall before and after the Chinese Valentine's Day in Shanxi. The Han people regard the Chinese Valentine's Day as a "rainy day". They say that the Weaver Girl crosses the river to meet the Cowherd. She feels sad and happy at the same time. She can't help but burst into tears. Tears falling down the world are rainwater. , so there is a saying that "if you don't go out for seven or seven years, you will be caught in the rain". On this day, girls have the custom of pounding impatiens flowers to dye their nails red. It is said that old people will have clear eyes and clear minds after seeing it. In the old days of Shanxi, people paid attention to looking at the Tianhe River on Chinese Valentine's Day to predict rice prices. When the Tianhe River is dim on Chinese Valentine's Day, the price of rice will rise, and when the Tianhe River is bright, the price of rice will be low. There is a saying among the Han people that "the price of rice is as high as the Tianhe River, and Taiyi shines brightly". In the modern Qixi Festival, the Han people in Shanxi Province are no longer so particular about it. Some begging activities are still popular among girls and daughters-in-law. Many places still retain the habit of making "qiao food", using white flour or cake noodles with sugar and oil. It is made into various foods; in some places, everyone eats watermelon and carves patterns on the watermelon, which is called "flower melon". These habits are the remnants of the Chinese Valentine's Day custom. "Yun" in Yunxi refers to the place name in the dictionary. "Yun" refers to a meteorite, which means a falling meteor; "西" refers to the direction, and Vega is on the west bank of the Milky Way. The word "Yunxi" means that the Vega star in the sky falls in Yunxi, and the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd fall in love with each other. The Tianhe in Yunxi not only matches the name of the Tianhe in the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but also has a very close connection with the natural landforms and cultural landscape of the Tianhe Basin. In the Tianhe Basin, there is a mountain that looks like a female statue on Shimenwan Mountain in the southeast of Yunxi County, which is called "Shi Granny", and there is also a mountain that looks like a male statue on Huagai Mountain in the northwest, which is called "Shi Gonggong".
For generations, Yunxi people have believed that these two rocks are the incarnations of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. In the middle of the upper reaches of the Tianhe River, there is a huge boulder called the "Golden Hairpin Stone". Legend has it that it is the fossil of a golden hairpin left here when the Queen Mother took out her hairpin to row across the Tianhe River. There is also a rock like a "Xuangu" in the Xuangu Park in the west of Yunxi County. Legend has it that it was the stone that Nuwa used to make stones to mend the sky. It is also said that it was the fairy stone that the Weaver Girl used to place her clothes when she came down to earth to take a bath. To the east of Tianhe, there is Mount Niangniang with an altitude of 1,069 meters. The Queen Mother Temple on the top of the mountain enshrines the statue of the Queen Mother. There is a nunnery on Shiti Mountain in the northeast of Xuangu Temple, called "Tianchi Nunnery". In the past, this was a popular place. On one side is the temple, on the other side is the nunnery, on the other side are the women and on the other side are the men. According to research, it was built by the simple Yunxi people to commemorate the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. "If you want to eat rice, go to Zhuxi, and if you want to marry a wife, go to Yunxi." Yunxi is the hometown of beauties. Yunxi women are recognized for their beauty, kindness and skill. Baotianman Funiu Mountain District in Nanyang City, Henan Province is a place full of outstanding people. Here, there are towering ancient trees, flocks of birds and animals, the southern foot of Shiren Mountain is full of emerald green, and the southern foot of Shiren Mountain is a famous tourist attraction. According to legend, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met and fell in love here because of the guidance of the thousand-year-old cow. From then on, they lived a harmonious and sweet life. After they gave birth to two children, the Queen Mother was furious when she found out that Weaver Girl had descended to earth, and sent soldiers from heaven to capture Weaver Girl. Cowherd burst into tears. However, the old cow asked the cowherd to put on his psychic cowhide and chase him. The cowherd reluctantly did so, and then went to the sky to find the Weaver Girl. In order to commemorate this thousand-year-old cow who was knowledgeable about human nature, the mountain where the cowherd once lived was called Funiu Mountain.
Map of the hometown of Cowherd and Weaver Girl
In Lihe Township, Wancheng District, 20 miles south of Nanyang City, there is a natural village called Niulangzhuang. People in the village say that the legendary Cowherd is The person from their village is a young man named Sun Ruyi. The "Sacred Cow Tomb" stone tablet was excavated in Niulangzhuang, and then a statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was built in the village. On the seventh day of July, the place is full of incense.
Sacred Cow Tomb
The Niu Family House in Niulang Village, which has been passed down from ancestors, is said to be the former residence of Niulang.
Niujiazhai Ruins
The Niu Langzhuang’s drinking pit passed down from ancestors is said to be the place where Niulang used to let his cows drink water. Regardless of whether there are drought or flood years here, the pit has always remained in this state.
Yinniukeng
The picture below is the location of the legendary Magpie Bridge. It is said that the bridge used to be a stone bridge. It was destroyed during the "Cultural Revolution" and a monument was subsequently built to commemorate it.
Magpie Bridge Monument
Because after the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were separated, Shiwa Village, the legendary birthplace of the Weaver Girl, still retained the custom of not intermarrying with the Cowherd Village.
As for the character prototypes, relevant people pointed out that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are actually mortals and are authentic Nanyang people. Niulang is from Sangzhuang, twenty miles west of Nanyang City, and Weaver Girl is from Shiwa Village (commonly known as Weaver Girl Village), twenty miles south of the city. Zhi Nu eloped and married Cowherd. When Zhi Nu's family found out, they broke up. Niulang looked for his wife and came to live near Shiwa Village, and then Niulang Village was formed.
Nowadays, on the seventh day of July every year, Niulangzhuang not only inherits the customs of "exploding clever fruits", "begging for clever things", and "sacrifice", but also on this morning, the old man has to kill the rooster, fearing that It announces the dawn in advance and shortens the time when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet.
Every year around the seventh day of July, villagers in Niulangzhuang and its surroundings on the east bank of Baihe River go to Niulangzhuang to burn incense and offer sacrifices and pray for children.
The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated from the star worship of the ancients. It was the result of people deifying and personifying the stars in the sky. There is also physical evidence for this in Nanyang. In the 1970s, a Han Dynasty stone portrait of the "Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" was excavated from the Baitan Han Tomb on the west bank of the Baihe River in Nanyang. The cowherd on the right is holding a whip. Judging from the body, expression and walking, it is undoubtedly a domesticated farm animal. Ox - Nanyang cattle; the sitting position of the Weaver Girl in the lower left corner is also the working posture of women in the Han Dynasty weaving machines. [7]
In 2007, Nanyang’s “Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl” was included in the first batch of Henan Province’s intangible cultural heritage. [2]
In October 2012, the Nanyang Municipal Culture Bureau implemented the national intangible cultural heritage application process of "The Origin of the Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in Nanyang", and finally succeeded, thus culturally identifying the origin of the Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Yu Nanyang's statement. To the south of the "Liuguo Wharf" in the southern suburbs of Taicang, there is a Huanggu Pond next to Liujiagang, and there is a Huanggu Village by the river. According to ancient legend, this is the birthplace of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Before the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a Huanggu Temple in the village. In the temple, the statues of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were enshrined. There is a beautiful and moving myth and legend here.
The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are both gods in the sky. The Cowherd is called Heguxing, and later generations mistakenly call it Huang Guxing; the Weaver Girl is called Weaver Girl, and she is the granddaughter of the Queen Mother. The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl fell in love freely in heaven. The Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother thought that they were in the wrong family and in the wrong household. In the name of "falling in love and affecting their work," they kept the Weaver Girl under strict supervision and demoted the Cowherd to the mortal world. Before the Cowherd descended to earth, the Weaver Girl quietly told the Cowherd that if he missed her in the world, he could fill the lotus tank with water and look at the water in the tank to see the silhouette of the Weaver Girl. Niulang kept it in mind and was born into a farmer's home in Huanggu Village, next to Huanggu Pond in the southern suburbs of Taicang.
The Cowherd in Huanggu Village lost his parents when he was young and lived in the house of his elder brother and sister-in-law. A cow, the Taurus star in the sky, flew to the Cowherd. The Cowherd took good care of the cow and often went to the fields to graze the cow. They were very close. His brother and sister-in-law have always bullied him, abused him, burned good things and eaten them secretly without letting the Cowherd know. Lao Niu was smart and knew that his brother and sister-in-law were secretly eating good food at home, so he asked the Cowherd to go home and eat. My sister-in-law was so angry that she forced Niu Lang to separate the family. The Cowherd said that I don’t want anything else but this cow, a piece of land to farm, and a thatched house to live in.
After the family separation, the Cowherd and the Cow worked hard, took the Cow to the fields, and depended on each other for their lives. The Cowherd is smart and capable, and gradually grows into a strong and sensible young man. After finishing the farm work in the fields, he often rides on the back of the cow and plays the flute to relieve his boredom. When I missed the Weaver Girl, I stared at the Weaver Girl in the lotus vat in a daze. The sound of the flute he played was so beautiful that the Weaver Girl in the sky was fascinated by it. She kept eavesdropping on the Cowherd playing the flute in the colorful clouds for seven or forty-nine days, which aroused her admiration for the Cowherd. The old cow said: "Cowherd, Cowherd, you wave to her. If she is interested, she will meet you." The Cowherd looked up into the colorful clouds and saw a beautiful fairy who looked like a lotus vat. The Weaver Girl in the house waved to her. Seeing the Cowherd waving to her, the Weaver Girl pulled out a silver hairpin from her head and threw it down. With a "swipe" sound, the silver hairpin turned into a road to the sky, and the Cowherd rode on the Cowherd. On my back, I met Weaver Girl in the sky.
Cowherd and Weaver Girl, you love me, I love you, so the old cow acts as a matchmaker. Weaver Girl descends to the earth and is born in Huanggu Village, and gets married to Cowherd.
Their men farmed and the women weaved. They gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, and lived a happy life. The Weaver Girl weaves very good cloth, and her business is good. She is also willing to teach the women in Huanggu Village how to weave cloth, and they have a close relationship with her neighbors. Before the old cow died, he put his head on the river bank and said to the cowherd: "After I die, you can peel off my skin and put it away. It can be used when there is danger. If you wear it on your body, you can go to heaven!" The old cow died! That riverside is still called "Niutoujing".
Weaver Girl is the granddaughter of the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor discovered that the Weaver Girl was not weaving in the machine room, and sent the gods and generals to inquire. He found out that the Weaver Girl was born in Huanggu Village, married the Cowherd, and gave birth to twins. The Jade Emperor was furious and sent the gods and generals to escort the Weaver Girl away. The Cowherd was working in the fields when he suddenly noticed that the weather was bad. He hurried home and found that the Weaver Girl was missing. He looked up to the sky and saw that the Weaver Girl was escorted to heaven by the gods. He hurriedly put on the cowhide, picked up a load of children and flew up to the sky. , while chasing, she shouted, "Heaven will stop being rude and give me back my wife!" Seeing the Cowherd chasing after her, the Weaver Girl thought to herself that I am the granddaughter of the Jade Emperor, so she would not do anything to me. She tortured her hard and waved her hands to tell them not to follow, but the Cowherd refused to listen. The Weaver Girl became anxious, pulled out a golden hairpin from her head, and drew a line behind her, drawing a Milky Way. The river was rolling and the waves were rolling, and the Cowherd and the others were stopped. In the east of the river, it is impossible to cross the river.
After the Jade Emperor captured the Weaver Girl, he severely reprimanded her and imprisoned her in a machine room to weave cloth. The Cowherd could not meet the Weaver Girl, and the children cried for their mother. The Mother of the Earth (the wife of the Jade Emperor, who was in charge of everything on earth) saw that the Weaver Girl was pitiful and asked the Jade Emperor for mercy. The Jade Emperor agreed to meet the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd once every year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. On this day, the birds and magpies built a bridge, allowing the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to take their children to heaven and meet the Weaver Girl on the magpie bridge.