Though the Double Seventh Festival is more often known today as Chinese Valentine’s Day for sweethearts, it is traditionally a festival for girls.

Having clever hands and nimble fingers was a marriage asset for girls in ancient China, therefore, single girls wished for weaving skills like those of the legendary Weaving Maid. On the festival, they pray for dexterity.

Women and girls gather at night at an table covered with snacks and offerings. After burning incense and kowtowing to Vega, the star of the Weaving Maid, they pray for clever hands, a good husband or a good sun. Then they eat the snacks.

The girls also take part in dexterity competitions, devotional activities that include threading needs, embroidery and making delicate snacks.

Traditional activities

Threading a needle

As a devotional act, girls must thread a seven-eye needle outdoor in moonlight. It’s very demanding because of the tiny needle eyes, dim light and wine. The one who first succeeds is praised and known as qiao (巧) or dextrous. The others are called shu qiao (输巧), losing clever hands.

The seven-hole needle is long gone. Today embroidery needles are used.

Spider weaving

Since spiders are natural weavers, girls catch a spider on the Double Seventh Festival and keep it in a small box overnight, praying they will be able to spin and weave like the spider. The boxes are opened the next day and the spider webs are checked. The denser the web, the more qiao (dextrous) the owner is believed to have collected.

Throwing a needle into water

This tradition arose from the needle threading competition. Girls will drop a fine needle into a bowl of water at midday. Tilting the bowl slightly makes the needle float. Girls check the shadow of the needle in the water. If it moves like floating clouds or a blooming flower, it suggests the girl is gaining qiao; if the shadow hardly moves, it suggests fumbling fingers.

Hair washing

On the Double Seventh Festival, it is important for girls south of the Yangtze River to wash their hair. It is believed that water from a spring or river on this particular day is as pure as that from the Yin He, the silver river that separated the Weaving Maid and Cowherd. Such hair washing is believed to win protection of the Weaving Maid.

Some girls collect dew in a basin on that day, since it is believed that the dew are the tears of joy of the reunited Cowherd and Weaving Maid. Placing dew on the eyelids and on the hands can help a girl acquire a “quick eye and a deft hand.”

Eating qiao guo (dexterity snack)

Various qiao guo (巧果), literally dexterity snacks, are popular on this day. They mostly refer to a fried food made of flour, sesame and molasses that can be made into various shapes with a clever hand. Other dexterity snacks are delicately carved fruits, especially melons.

We recommend:

Geomancy city	Zhengying ancient village in Yunnan	Chengde Mountain Resort