It is said that when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met in Queqiao on Tanabata, the Weaver Girl said something. Cowherd jumped off the bridge with a bang.

Tanabata this year is in August, 2007 19.

Today is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, which is a good day for cowherd and weaver girl to meet on the bridge. In China, some people call today Valentine's Day.

Legend has it that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are separated by the Milky Way on weekdays, and only on Qixi night can they meet briefly on the "Queqiao". The rainy day on Tanabata is the tears they cry.

◆ Cowherd and Weaver Girl Meet at the Magpie Bridge —— The Origin of Valentine's Day in China

Legend has it that in ancient times there was a kind young man named Cowherd. His parents died young and lived alone with his brothers and sisters. The harsh sister-in-law often bullied him, and finally instigated the two brothers to split up, occupying the land and house themselves and giving only an old cow to the cowherd.

This old cow is not an ordinary cow, but a Taurus star in the sky. Because he violated the Jade Emperor's dogma, he was demoted as a cow by the Jade Emperor. It saw the kind cowherd being bullied and decided to help him.

One day, it suddenly told the cowherd that there was a lake under the mountain in the east, and every evening seven fairies would go down to the lake to take a bath. As long as the cowherd steals one of the clothes, the fairy can't go back to the heavenly palace, and will stay as his wife.

After listening to the old cow, the cowherd secretly hid the clothes of one of the fairies. When the fairies returned to the Heavenly Palace after taking a bath, the youngest Weaver Girl found that her clothes were missing, and she began to cry. At this time, the Cowherd appeared with her clothes and asked the Weaver Girl to promise to be his wife and then give it back to her. Seeing Cowherd's honesty, Weaver Girl shyly agreed.

After they got married, they gave birth to a pair of children, men plowing and women weaving, and their lives were very happy. But the faithful old cow died. Before he died, he told the cowherd that when he died, he would skin him and come in handy when he was in trouble. After the news that the Weaver Girl married the Cowherd spread to the sky, the Jade Emperor was furious and sent the Empress Dowager to meet the Weaver Girl.

When the Cowherd came home, he couldn't see the Weaver Girl, so he was so anxious that he burst into tears with two children in his arms. Suddenly I remembered the words of the old cow, so I put on cowhide, picked two children, picked a laundry basket, and hurried after the Queen Mother and the Weaver Girl. With the magical power of cowhide, the cowherd flew to catch up with them.

At that time, the queen mother was in a hurry, tore off the gold hairpin on her head and scratched it to the ground. Immediately, a choppy Tianhe appeared, separating the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Cowherd and a pair of children stood by the river crying, and the crying alarmed the Jade Emperor. Seeing that the two children were pitiful, he asked the whole family to meet once a year on July 7.

So every year on Tanabata, countless magpies fly to the sky and build a magpie bridge to let the cowherd and the weaver girl cross the river to meet each other. It is said that there will be fewer magpies in the world on Tanabata every year, because they all fly to the sky to build bridges.

And after Tanabata, the hair on the magpie's head will fall off, because Tanabata went to bridge the bridge. Some people say it will rain on Tanabata night, which is the tears of joy after the reunion of Cowherd and Weaver Girl.

Later, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is said that when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet at the Magpie Bridge, the girls will come to the flowers and the moon, look up at the stars and look for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl on both sides of the Milky Way, hoping to see their annual meeting, and pray to God that they will be as ingenious as the Weaver Girl and that they will have a happy marriage, thus forming China's Valentine's Day.