Another Valentine’s Day

Once up a time, long, long ago, there were seven beautiful fairies. They were sisters. The youngest one being the fairest of all and the only one not yet married. One day they decided to see what the mortals look like. They came to a beautiful lake in a far away land called the Middle Kingdom. The people in the Middle Kingdom call their own place Zhong Guo—Zhong means middle; Guo means Kingdom or country. They believe their place is in the middle of the world. People who don't live there call the place China.

On one exceptional bright summer day. The birds were chirping, the breeze was whispering through the woods. The seven sisters came to a beautiful lake in a forest in the Middle Kingdom. They took off their clothes, dipped into the cool water, and sang and giggled and frolicked.

Cowhand happened to bring his cow to the lake for some water. He heard the happy laughters and got curious. Hiding behind the trees, he saw the 7 beautiful fairies. Being a guy, he stole the most colorful dress, which was made of rainbow colored feathers. That dress happened to belong to the youngest of the sisters. Her name was Weaver. She got this name because she was the best weaver. She wove the dawn and the dusk skies with beautiful gold, red, purple, and the other colors we don’t even have the names for. Her long shining hair was like black silk running down a waterfall, her eyes were like two twinkling stars in a hot summer night, her lips were red as rubies, and her teeth were like sea shells neatly strung together. Her body was flawless, but I dare not describe it in my blog.

When the fairies set about to go home, Weaver found that she had nothing to wear. In those days, girls were not allowed to be naked in public. Therefore, she was left behind while the 6 sisters went back to Heaven and reported the incident to their father, the Emperor of Heaven. Poor Weaver had no choice but to find Cowhand to ask him to return the dress. After seeing how beautiful the dress was, Cowhand knew that Weaver could be an excellent homemaker. Considering the other things he also saw, Cowhand, being a guy, asked Weaver to marry him. Weaver had to accept the proposal because she had let the guy see her naked charm. There was just no other way around—her reputation as a maiden was at stake. But, after putting on her dress she had to go back to tell her parents—that also could not be avoided; that’s just the way the Middle Kingdom was.

The father got very angry—how can a marriage happen without the father’s approval first! He wanted to put the young couple to death. The mother, being a mother, pleaded and pleaded to her husband:
“Now the rice has been steamed, your daughter needs a husband to save her reputation. It’s our reputation as well, you know. Can’t you just punish them and teach them a lesson? Can’t you remember the way we were before we got married?” The six sisters also pleaded along with their mother.

The father, now that his face had been saved, said OK, but still insisted that they be separated and never to see each other again. He turned Weaver into a star called Vega in the Lyra constellation and he turned Cowhand into a star called Altair in the Aquila constellation. Vega and Altair are so far apart, even if they were to travel toward each other at the speed of light, it would take 8 years to meet in the middle.

After a few years, the mother and the sisters pleaded again:
“Can’t you let them get a little closer sometime? You don’t need to let them touch each other; just let them at least see each other once a year. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

The father, his rage softened a little over the years, relented and allowed Weaver (Vega) and Cowhand (Altair) to get closer on the 7th night of the 7th month on the lunar calendar. In addition to that, the mother, being a mother, behind her husband’s back, arranged the magpies to form a bridge between the 2 stars, so that the two love birds can steal a kiss or maybe two, for just one night a year.

Therefore, every year on July 7th of the lunar calendar, people in China would raise their heads to the night sky. They know the numerous white dots connecting Vega and Altair are those benevolent magpies. Even though the Chinese people suffer many hardships in their daily life; but for one night a year they are a romantic people. They coined the phrase "the Magpie Bridge" to mean match-making and look at magpies as a symbol of good luck. The Chinese maidens would practice their weaving and knitting skills and other homemaking skills all year round in order to compete on July 7th and to pray to the Seven Fairies and the Magpies for “Matchmakers, Matchmakers, make me a match.” Some of them pray for the blessing that their dads won’t get mad because they found their own sweethearts.

The people in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korean, and Vietnam also celebrate July 7th on the lunar calendar as a Valentine’s Day. Japanese, being the most practical one in the East Asia, do it on July 7th on the western calendar.