What are the origins and customs of Valentine's Day in China?

Valentine's Day in China, which originated from the worship of stars, is Seven Sisters's birthday in the traditional sense. Because of the worship of Seven Sisters on the seventh day of July, it was named Tanabata. The "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" on Tanabata comes from people's worship of natural phenomena.

The traditional customs of Tanabata include worshipping seven sisters, praying and wishing, begging for skillful skills, sitting and watching petunias and weaving girls, praying for marriage, and storing water on Tanabata.

Valentine's Day in China began in ancient times, spread in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. In ancient times, Valentine's Day in China was an exclusive festival for beautiful girls. Among the numerous folk customs of Qixi, some have gradually disappeared, but quite a few have been continued by people. Valentine's Day in China originated in China, and it is also celebrated in some Asian countries influenced by China culture, such as Japan, Korean Peninsula and Viet Nam.

On May 20th, 2006, China Valentine's Day was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage by People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State Council.

The worship of natural astronomical phenomena has a long history and is profound in China's ancient astrological culture. The ancients began to explore the mysteries of the universe from a very early age, and thus deduced a complete and profound star-watching culture. Cowherd and Weaver Girl is a typical example.

The legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl on Tanabata originates from people's worship of natural phenomena. As early as ancient times, the ancients who pursued order not only planned the sky in an orderly way, but also corresponded the stars with the ground areas one by one. This correspondence is called "dividing stars" in astronomy and "dividing fields" underground.

The above contents refer to Baidu Encyclopedia-Tanabata.