Qixi Festival

The Qixi Festival (Chinese: 七夕; pinyin: Qīxī; lit. 'Seventh Night [of the seventh month]'), also known as the Qiqiao Festival (Chinese: 乞巧; pinyin: Qǐqiǎo; lit. 'Beseeching craftsmanship'), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology. The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunisolar calendar. It is also celebrated in Vietnam, where it is known as Thất Tịch, and it is the inspiration for the Tanabata festival in Japan and Chilseok in Korea. A celebration of romantic love, the festival is often described as the traditional Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day. The festival is derived from Chinese mythology: people celebrate the romantic legend of two lovers, Zhinü and Niulang, who were the weaver girl and the cowherd, respectively. The tale of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has been celebrated in the Qixi Festival since the Han dynasty. The earliest-known reference to this famous myth dates back to more than 2,600 years ago, which was told in a poem from the Classic of Poetry. The festival has variously been called the Double Seventh Festival, the Chinese Valentine's Day, the Night of Sevens, or the Magpie Festival.