You Are My Valentine│All About Qixi Festival 七夕故事知多少?
2017年的七夕就快到了，你也許正在苦惱著要送另一半什麼禮物，又或許你身邊還沒有對的人，不過沒關係，在這天來臨之前先來看看七夕的由來吧！
傳說中，天上玉皇大帝有七個女兒，其中最小的女兒叫做織女，最聰明可愛、手藝又巧，天上皇宮中的重要織錦都由她負責設計與製作。另外，玉皇大帝有一群牛，由一個叫做牛郎的年輕人負責管理。牛郎與織女兩人情投意合、互相愛慕，以致荒廢了原本的工作。於是玉皇大帝下旨，叫喜鵲告訴這兩個熱戀的情侶要節制，七日見一次面即可。沒想到喜鵲傳錯話，他們以為每天均可相見，更是高興無比，工作完全拋在腦後。
玉皇大帝這回就龍顏大怒，降旨他們每年只能見一次面，就是農曆七月七日的晚上，那一天喜鵲這群肇事者就負責搭橋，讓他們兩人踩在他們的肩膀上越過銀河相會。因為一年僅能見一次面，當然有說不完的衷曲、道不盡的悲情，於是那天幾乎都會下起毛毛雨，象徵著兩人的淚水。
This year’s Qixi Festival, aka Tanabata ( in Japanese) or Chinese Valentine’s Day, is coming! Are you thinking about what gift you will give to your lover? Or maybe you don’t have one at all. It’s ok. But first, let’s read the story behind this day.
Legend has it that the Jade emperor (the supreme deity of Taoism) has seven daughters and the youngest one is called Zhi Nü, who is the brightest and the cutest. Due to her talent in weaving, she is in charge of all the weaving products in the empire. Also, there is a man called Niu Lang and he is the keeper of the emperor’s cattle. Zhi Nü and Niu Lang fall in love with each other at the first sight.
However, this couple is so busy thinking about each other that they forget to do their jobs. As a result, the Jade emperor commands the magpies (Pica pica), the legendary bringers of good luck, to tell this couple that they can only meet once a week. But the magpies send a wrong message to the couple that they are allowed to meet every day, and they do as they are told.
This time, the Jade emperor is so angry that he only allows the couple to meet on the seventh day of the 7th month on the Chinese calendar. And every year at this time, the magpies which make a mistake have to let Zhi Nü and Niu Lang stand on them and help the couple fly across the galaxy to meet. Because they have to wait a year to see each other, on the day they meet, there are often tears of joy and sadness. That's why it usually rains on that day.
資料來源: http://a2z.fhl.net/history/history22.html
