Background

Qixi is the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day. It’s celebrated on the seventh night of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Usually that happens sometime in August on our calendar.

It is said that Niu Lang was a common herder who had a kind heart even though he was without living parents. Living with his brother and brother-in-law, he was often mistreated. One day, Niulang came across a beautiful girl—Zhinü the Goddess’s seventh daughter, who had just escaped from heaven to explore the earth. Zhinü soon fell in love with Niulang, and they got married without the knowledge of the Goddess. Zhinü proved to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang to be a good husband. They lived happily and had two children. But the Goddess of Heaven (Zhinü’s mother) found out that Zhinü had married a mere mortal. The Goddess was furious and ordered Zhinü to return to heaven. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way between Altair and Vega. Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar while taking care of their two children (his flanking stars β and γ Aquilae ). But once a year all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (the bridge of magpies) over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the seventh night of the seventh moon.