Book 2 Unit 4 The Qixi Festival

July7thon the Chinese calendar is Chinese Qixi Festival, the mostromantic of all the traditional Chinese holidays. Every year, some big businessesorganize various activities, and young people send gifts to their lovers. As aresult, the Qixi Festival is considered to be Chinese “Valentine’s Day”. TheQixi Festival is derived from the legend of Cowherd and Weaving Maid. Thelegend holds that on this particular night every year the Weaving Maid inheaven meets with Cowherd. So, people can see Cowherd and Weaving Maid meetingin the Milky Way on the night of Qixi. On this night, girls would also begWeaving Maid for some wisdom for a happy marriage. But with the changing oftimes, these activities are diminishing. All that remains is the legend ofCowherd and Weaving Maid, a sigh of faithful love, continuously circulatedamong the folk.