When is Valentine's Day? Is it a foreign festival or a China festival?

When is Valentine's Day? Is Valentine's Day February 14?

Valentine's Day is February 14.

February 14 Valentine's Day, also known as St. Valentine's Day or St. Valentine's Day, is one of the traditional western festivals. There are many sources of this festival, but it is common that the Roman saint Valentine was executed and later designated as Valentine's Day. On this day, men and women exchange chocolates, greeting cards and flowers to express their love or friendship, which has become a favorite festival for young people in Europe and America. There are as many lovers in the world as there are many explanations about the origin of Valentine's Day. Just as people in China now spend Christmas with almost fanatical enthusiasm, Valentine's Day has quietly penetrated into the minds of countless young people and become another important festival besides the traditional festivals in China.

The origin of valentine's day

In the 3rd century A.D., the Roman Empire experienced a comprehensive crisis, economic depression, corruption of the ruling class, social unrest and people rebelled. In order to maintain their rule, the nobles brutally suppressed the people and Christians. At that time, a Christian Valentine was arrested and imprisoned. In prison, his honesty impressed the warden's daughter deeply. They love each other and are taken care of by the warden's daughter. The ruling class ordered his death. Before the execution, he wrote a long suicide note to the warden's daughter, expressing his innocence. It shows that he is aboveboard and has deep feelings for the warden's daughter.

On February 14, AD 270, he was executed. Later, in order to commemorate Valentine's sacrifice for justice and pure love, Christians designated the execution day as "Saint Valentine's Day", and later generations changed it to "Valentine's Day".

Qixi Festival

Valentine's Day in China refers to a festival about love. There are three versions of Valentine's Day in China: one is Lantern Festival (also known as Shangyuan Festival, that is, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month); The second is Shangsi Festival (the third day of the third lunar month); Third, Tanabata (Seven Sisters's birthday, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month). Lantern Festival, Shangsi Festival and Chinese Valentine's Day are the most interesting festivals for beautiful girls in ancient times. In ancient times, ordinary women, especially those with a good family or a small family, were "three steps away from the boudoir." You can only come out during the Lantern Festival and Shangsi Festival, and even have a tryst with your boyfriend. Tanabata is more inclined to become a woman's exclusive festival, and its connotation includes not only begging for love, but also begging for wisdom and happiness. In ancient times, Tanabata had little to do with love, but in modern times it has become a festival symbolizing love.

Chinese Valentine's Day; Qixi Festival

Valentine's Day in China began in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. In ancient times, Valentine's Day in China was an exclusive festival for beautiful girls. Among the numerous folk customs of Qixi, some have gradually disappeared, but quite a few have been continued by people. In fact, China's Valentine's Day is not to commemorate the love of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but to worship the star (actress Wu), which later evolved into a mythical goddess, also known as "Seven Sisters" and "Seven Mothers" among the people. Valentine's Day in China is a festival for women, and the Weaver Girl is regarded as the goddess of textiles and lovers, the protector of women and children. July 7th is the birthday of Weaver Girl. On the night of the seventh day of July, it is inevitable that ordinary women beg her for wisdom and skillful skills and ask for a happy marriage. The trick of Qixi is to pray for ingenuity to Seven Sisters (Weaver Girl), hoping for a happy marriage and a happy family. In the old society, beautiful girls begged Qi Jie to teach her clever skills, but in fact, the so-called "begging for cleverness" was just "fighting cleverness". After historical development, Tanabata has been endowed with the beautiful love legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", making it a festival symbolizing love, thus being regarded as the most romantic traditional festival in China, and even having the cultural meaning of "China Valentine's Day" in contemporary times.

Shangsi Festival

Shangsi Festival has a long history. In ancient times, Shangsi Festival has become a large-scale folk festival in some places. In spring and quiet time, people go out of their homes and gather at the water's edge to hold ceremonies to clear up the ominous. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, due to the fashion of advocating nature and indulging in landscapes, the significance of celebrating the last festival was greatly weakened for people, while the significance of enjoying the Spring Festival became stronger and stronger. The Biography of Xia Zhongyu in the Western Jin Dynasty described Luoyang as "a talented man and a rotten woman". The festival of Shangsi Festival is scheduled for March 3rd of the lunar calendar. [7] In ancient times, one of the main activities of Shangsi Festival was to meet men and women, that is, Valentine's Day when men and women expressed their love. There is a saying in The Book of Songs Zheng Qin Feng Yan: "Both Qin and Yan are clear. Scholars and women are rich. The woman said, "What do you think?" The scholar said, "Nothing." Watch it? Besides, you can enjoy yourself. Wizards and women, benefiting qi and teasing, feed them a spoonful of medicine. Li Zhou has a rule that unmarried women should stay in the boudoir (that is, women in the boudoir), so they can only go out for a few days a year. Although this is etiquette, it is not a rigid rule, but who will pursue people who do not follow the etiquette. ) Watch the Lantern Festival and go out for an outing on March 3rd. So the third day of March became the day when single men and women met and knew each other.

the Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival, also known as Lantern Festival, Shangyuan Festival, Lantern Festival and so on. The first month is the first month of the lunar calendar. The ancients called night "night", so they called the fifteenth day of the first month "Lantern Festival". With the changes of society and times, the custom of Lantern Festival has changed greatly, but it is still a traditional folk festival in China. Yuanxiao was only called the fifteenth day of the first month, the first half of the first month or the full moon when the early festivals were formed, and it was called Yuanxiao or Yuanxiao after Sui. Influenced by Taoism in the early Tang Dynasty, it was also called Shangyuan, but it was only in the late Tang Dynasty that it was occasionally called Yuanxiao. But since the Song Dynasty, it has also been called Dengxi. In the Qing dynasty, it was also called the Lantern Festival. On the evening of the 15th day of the first month, people in China have a series of traditional folk activities, such as watching lanterns, eating glutinous rice balls, solve riddles on the lanterns and setting off fireworks. Lantern Festival is also a romantic festival. In the feudal traditional society, Lantern Festival also provides unmarried men and women with opportunities to get to know each other. In traditional society, young girls are not allowed to go out freely, but they can go out to play together on holidays. Lantern Festival lanterns are just an opportunity to make friends, and unmarried men and women can also find their own partners by the way. During the Lantern Festival, it is also the time for young men and women to meet their lovers.