Qixi, or the Double Seventh Festival, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is a traditional festival full of romance. It is the only Chinese festival devoted to love, and thus sometimes called Chinese Valentine’s Day. There are some very interesting traditions on the day.

Doing Needlework
A girl will be attractive to a suitor if she has talents of one kind or another in addition to being beautiful. Since the Weaver Girl is also an excellent seamstress, on the double seventh in ancient China, girls would hold weaving and needlework competitions to see who had the best hands and the brightest mind, both prerequisites for making a good wife and mother at that time.

Overhearing the Girl Crying
In the evening of that day, people sat outdoors to observe the stars. Chinese grannies would say that, if you stood under a grapevine, you could probably overhear the Weaving Maid and the Cowherd’s conversation. If you were lucky enough, they would go on telling you, you could hear the crying og the Weaver Girl.

Paying Tributes to the Weaver Girl
Girls would also put up colorful “shrines” made of paper, fresh fruit, flowers and incense as a tribute to the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd. In some parts of Shangdong Province, young women would offer fruit and pastries to pray for a bright mind. If spiders were seen weaving webs on sacrificial objects, it was believed the Weaver Girl was giving a positive reply to the prayers.