There are 365 days in a year. Why did Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet on Tanabata?

On Tanabata, it's time for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl to meet at the Magpie Bridge. However, why do two people only meet one day a year? And why does this day happen to be on Qixi?

1. Why only meet for one day?

Test the legend first.

There are several versions of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Generally speaking, there are four examples:

The first example: Cowherd and Weaver Girl were lazy and didn't work after marriage, and they were punished to meet only on Tanabata (mentioned below).

The second example: The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is separated from the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (Liang Zhu ascended to heaven to become the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl).

The third example: the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid is separated from the witch story (for example, in a rage, the Queen Mother of the West pulled Chai Jin out and drew a galaxy, and the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid separated the two sides).

The fourth example: The Weaver Girl rejected the Cowherd, abandoned her husband and children, and returned to heaven (is this true? )

The third paradigm is the most widely spread. That is, we are familiar with the "fairy couple" who both return home.

The Queen Mother of the West means that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl will never meet again. As a result, the weaver girl cried like rain, and the cowherd waited by the river day and night with a pair of children, touching the heartless Queen Mother of the West, so that she could have a chance to meet each other once a year.

Retest the ideal.

The legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl contains the most fundamental survival picture of predecessors: farming, weaving and coitus.

Men plow and women weave, and reproduce together. Why can't they be together?

Annotate only from the literary consequences of love elegy, for fear of appearing weak.

If we look at the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl from the microscopic perspective of the history of human marriage, there is likely to be a forgotten personal image hidden in front of it.

The history of human marriage has roughly gone through these stages: promiscuity, group marriage (blood group marriage, alien group marriage), pairing marriage and monogamy.

We know that the Mosuo people near Lugu Lake are still in the primitive matriarchal society, and they still have the custom of going out to get married. There is a legend among Mosuo people along Lugu Lake that their ancestors made friends with many male mountain gods around them and lived a comfortable sex life. They call these male mountain gods "notes" of Xianyan.

Customs like this are found in all ethnic groups in the Central Plains, but they are old and difficult to verify.

Legends about our ancestors in the Central Plains are all so-called "born by feeling heaven". For example, according to legend, the mother of Emperor Xuanyuan was named Fu Bao. Legend has it that one morning, Fu Bao saw lightning around Jidu Pivot Star. Immediately, the pivot star fell, and Fu Bao felt pregnant.

Legend belongs to legend, only his mother knows. During the period when he didn't know his father, the relationship between men and women was not a couple, but a "one note" relationship.

Occasionally separated, and then forgotten in the rivers and lakes.

It can be inferred that the first core of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl: the ancestors and ancestors in the ancient times of the Central Plains are not the fluctuating relationship between husband and wife, but just a note, so they will not "sleep together" all their lives, but will only meet each other occasionally.

With the development of marriage culture, the marriage system has become more and more strict, and it is no longer as comfortable as before. However, it is human's talent to seek a comfortable life. In order to cope with this sharp conflict, the primitive clan gradually formed some special customs and habits. On the one hand, it installed a "pressure reducing valve" on the "pressure cooker", on the other hand, it kept the fluctuation of society and family. These customs include:

1 "Women are virtuous and women are immoral". It means that you can make friends with "Zhu" before you get married. At present, when you get married, you must be chaste and focused, and you can no longer be comfortable with each other. So do unmarried men.

Married men and women are allowed to "let the cows go out" once a year, and they can meet freely at specific times. Once a certain time has passed, married men and women must end the carnival and go home.

Song Yu's two poems, Gaotang and Goddess, both mentioned that when the king of Chu traveled to Yunmengze, he met the goddess in his dream and "recommended a pillow mat". After some sex, the goddess left.

It can be inferred from this that the second core of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl: married men and women can imitate their ancestors at some time every year, make love at will, and over time, they will return to their original places.

Cowherd and Weaver Girl, the annual reunion bridge, is probably just the remnant of a special period in the history of human marriage.

"When we meet again, we will win most of the world."

2. Why is Tanabata?

On July 7th, it was the party night for Penny and the Weaver Girl.

Then there are 365 days a year when the cowherd and the weaver girl meet again. Why does it happen to be Qixi?

1. Looking at the sky at night, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are the most conspicuous in the night sky in July.

According to geographers' calculations, Vega rose to the highest point of the year just in the evening of July during the summer. In other words, this bright white Vega is just above people's heads at this time.

A little south of the west of Vega, that is, the east bank of the "shallow river", is Altair. Penny and Weaver are on both sides of the Milky Way, and in the early autumn night, because the Milky Way just turned to the north and south targets, it went straight through the night sky. At this time, the morning glory and the weaver girl on both sides of the river are just things, far away from each other. "Between surplus and surplus,? The image of "no words" should be summed up from such astronomical phenomena.

Moreover, there are clouds in July:

July in the wild, August in the rest, Xuan Yue at home, October crickets like under my bed.

The significance is that in July, we can still play in the wild, and in August, we are under the eaves and Xuan Yue is at home at school? Because the climate is getting cold.

July is the best time to weave and store winter clothes when the weather turns cold. People weave during the day and look up at the stars at night, telling the story of the cowherd and the weaver girl from generation to generation.

Second, July 7th is a strange day.

Judging from the seasons and astronomical phenomena, we can only explain why it is July. To further clarify why it is July 7, we must separate the magical views of our predecessors in time.

"Seven" is a big number:

Count from one to three, become five, exceed seven, become nine.

In modern China, especially in the Qin and Han Dynasties and beyond, all important days such as January 1st, February 2nd, March 3rd, May 5th, July 7th and Xuan Yue 9th are considered to be the days of harmony and harmony between man and nature.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the Queen Mother of the West met on Qixi. The story of Hanwu includes:

The Queen Mother of the West descended to Liang Wudi Court on Tanabata.

In addition, immortals also gather on Qixi. According to Wu Jun's "Continued Harmony":

On July 7th, the weaver girl crossed the river and the fairy returned to the palace.

These legends seem to associate Tanabata with meeting. Respect for time also extends to respect for life.

Xijing Miscellaneous Notes: "Mrs. Qi? On July 7th, I went to Bai Zi Swimming Pool to play. Mrs Qi is the concubine of Liu Bang. It is said that during the festival in the palace on July 7th, she will go to Baizichi to make music and tie them together with colorful silk threads. This is called "connected love". It seems a little bit like Valentine's Day. "Being in a pool of hundreds of children" also carries the wish of finding children.

Therefore, it can be seen that in ancient times, Tanabata was also an auspicious moment for courtship, and people born on Tanabata were the noblest. According to records, Emperor Liu Che was born on July 7th. This is probably one of the reasons for Chinese Valentine's Day in the Han Dynasty.

The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl caught up with the increasingly popular custom of courtship and meeting on Valentine's Day in China, and was passed down from generation to generation overnight. This story, from the last two stars falling in love, to the love between man and god, plus the plot of "both husband and wife have returned home" and meeting once a year, has gradually become more and more perfect.

Until later, when it comes to the legend of the girl and the weaver girl, I think of the meeting on Tanabata, but I think Tanabata is a festival derived from the meeting of the cowherd and the weaver girl.

3. When the legend meets Tanabata

People usually associate Chinese Valentine's Day with the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and think that Chinese Valentine's Day is a festival to commemorate the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. In fact, according to pen and ink records, Valentine's Day in China is hundreds of years earlier than the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl.

The literary records about the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were first seen in the Book of Songs. Xiaoya? Dadong:

Look at the Milky Way on that day, sparkling and shining. ? Peter Weaver, seven times a day. Even if the weaver girl is busy, she can't knit a stripe well. ? People who lead cows don't take boxes.

The second is the Book of Songs? Nan Zhou? Hanbitsoft:

There are trees in the south, so we can't help thinking. Han has a goddess. I can't believe it.

These records are only the embryonic form of the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. At that time, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were just two stars, namely, farming culture (Cowherd Star) and cottage industry culture (Vega), and there was no connection between them.

Nineteen ancient poems? The distant Altair, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl began the story of facing each other across the river.

Distant Altair, Jiao Jiao Hehan girl. ? Yishui, Ying Ying? Nothing to say.

But this only personifies the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, blurring the charm of two loving stars, but there is no detailed plot, such as the meeting on the Qixi Bridge.

It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that the bridge segment where the magpie bridge met began. According to Ying Shao's Custom Pass in the Eastern Han Dynasty:

Weaver girl crosses the river on Tanabata, and the magpie bridge works.

At this point, the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has been intact, but the relationship between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has not been seen yet. Are you a couple? Or a couple? By the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the story was getting more and more perfect. At that time, there was a passage in Jingchu Sui History Collection:

In the east of Hehan, there are the sons of Weaver Girl and Tiandi. Weave the war every year and weave it into a brocade skirt. God pitied him for being alone and promised to marry a cowherd in Hexi. After getting married, I gave up sewing. The Emperor of Heaven was furious and ordered to return to Hedong. Only on the seventh day of July every year, I cross the river for a period of time.

The Weaver Girl is described as the Weaver Girl in the sky. Seeing that she was unlucky to knit alone, the Emperor of Heaven asked her to marry the Cowherd. The result is marriage. At present, the weaver girl is infatuated with the pleasure of men and women, and even stops knitting. So in a rage, the Emperor of Heaven asked them to separate the two sides of the river and meet each other only once a year.

Therefore, it can be seen that the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl spread from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (Book of Songs) to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and only mentioned the meeting on July 7.

In fact, I heard that the Qixi Festival probably existed during the Warring States Period. According to Mindeiro letter "provenance" records:

Chu Huaiwang set Qixi for the first time.

Considering that the author is too far away from the recording time, the credibility is not high. The earliest record of Valentine's Day in China is "Miscellanies of Xijing", which records:

Hans often wears a seven-hole needle in his cardigan on July 7th. On July 7, Lin Chi played the field (second sound).

These records illustrate the grand occasion in the palace on July 7 in the early Han Dynasty, but they do not record the stories of Cowherd and Weaver Girl in these customs.

Therefore, it was not the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl that nurtured the Tanabata, but the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl that met on Tanabata and passed down to this day, becoming the "Valentine's Day" sought after by marriage.

Tired of watching, watching a joke makes you happy and relaxed.

deposit book

After spending 30 minutes explaining the relationship between savings deposit and compound interest, the university professor asked the class, "What did you get when you deposited 5,000 yuan in the bank at an annual interest rate of 5.5%?" Someone replied, "A passbook."