What is Qixi Festival and why do people celebrate it?

Much like an Asian version of Romeo and Juliet, the story behind Qixi Festival revolves around a pair of star-crossed lovers. Zhinü, a weaver girl, is the daughter of the emperor of heaven, but she fell in love with the humble cowherd Niulang. They got married and had two children before the emperor found out his daughter had been consorting with a lowly human, and forcibly brought her back to heaven. 

Niulang set off in pursuit of Zhinü, but found his way blocked by a massive river that the emperor had cast down between earth and heaven to separate the lovers – we now know this cosmic river as the Milky Way. Standing on either shore, the couple mourned for their doomed love, but the deities were moved by their tears and permitted magpies to fly up to heaven and form a bridge across the river. As the legend goes, Zhinü and Niulang meet once a year on the bridge, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

Before this love story was formed, the Chinese had already noticed the Vega and Altair stars sitting on opposing ends of the Milky Way, which are positioned the closest together on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. A poem in The Book of Songs from the Western Zhou dynasty named Vega and its neighbouring stars the Weaving Sisters, and Altair the Draught Oxen. This then formed the basis of Zhinü and Niulang as it made its way into common folk stories. There have been numerous iterations of the love story over the centuries, but its core essence remains the same.

As Zhinü’s name suggests in Chinese, she is the goddess of weaving. Women in ancient China used to pray to her to be blessed with good needlework so they could secure a husband. Offerings of tea, wine, flowers, and fruits would be laid out, and women would gather to compete with each other on threading needles under moonlight. 

While there are several food customs prepared during Qixi, which vary regionally across mainland China, a popular dish made and eaten during the festival is qiaoguo, a thin piece of fried pastry made with oil, flour, sugar, and honey. People believe that eating qiaoguo will help reunite the couple on the Magpie Bridge – plus, these morsels are rather delicious anyways!

Today, of course, women are not quite judged on their eligibility by their needlework. Much of modern-day Qixi therefore hinges on the love aspect, with couples celebrating it as the Chinese Valentine’s Day. As you might expect, consumer brands churn out Qixi-themed products each year, and the festival is also a popular day to get married.

In Hong Kong, Qixi is most commonly known as the Seven Sisters Festival. Not to be confused with the legend of the seven sisters in the Braemar Point neighbourhood, this festival is named because Zhinü is the seventh daughter of the emperor of heaven. There is indeed a Seven Saints Ancient Temple in Sai Kung – dedicated to the seven celestial sisters which includes Zhinü – as well as the Seven Sisters Temple on Peng Chau, where people will burn offerings known as Seventh Sister’s Basin and Seventh Sister’s Clothes. However, this tradition is also slowly being forgotten, and young romantics are more likely to visit or make offerings at Lovers’ Rock on the Wan Chai section of Bowen Road.