Every Year Chinese Valentine’s day is on the 7th day of  the 7th month of the Lunar calendar. Other countries in South East Asia also celebrate love on this day. In 2010, the 7th day  of the 7th month of the lunar calendar is 16th August.

Chinese Valentine’s day traditionally called 七夕 (Qixi Festival) or 七巧(Qiqiao Festival). The Qixi Festival is about a legendary love story from Chinese folklore — The Legend of Love.

Here is the story: Long time ago, there was a boy who was an orphan and lived with his elder brother and sister in law. He was intelligent and a hard worker, but the sister in law hated him. Every morning before dawn, he herded the cows up to the mountain  and people called him cowboy (牛郎). He slept with cows in the barn.

A few years later, the cowboy herded the cows into a strange forest. There were beautiful mountains and clear water, birds were singing, and flowers were in blossom. The cowboy saw nine fairies riding on the cloud and landing on the green grass. The fairies then took off their colourful clothes and jumped into the clear river. The cowboy was shocked, his eyes fixed on a young beautiful fairy. That moment, one of his old cows spoke suddenly: shi is the weaver (织女) from the heaven, if you take her clothes away, she will become your wife”. The cowboy quietly walked close, and took her clothes away. Near the mid day, each fairy put on their colourful clothes and rode away on the clouds. Only the weaver couldn’t find her clothes and stayed there. The cowboy came out and asked her to be his wife. The weaver looked at him, saw him as an honest man and hard worker with a strong body. Softly she nodded her head.

After married, the cowboy worked in the field and the weaver sewed at home. They lived together happily. Two years later, they had two children, a boy and a girl. However, when the queen of the the heaven heard that the weaver had married to an human she was furious. On the 7th of 7th month of on the lunar calendar, the queen ordered her soldiers to catch the weaver. The cowboy was very sad, with the old cow’s help, he put his children in the baskets, and carried them to chase his wife. The queen saw the cowboy and his children got closer, she pulled her golden hair clip and cut a rough river just before the cowboy’s feet.

The weaver was seperated from the cowboy and her children by the river. They looked at each other and cried. The sadness sobbing had touched the happy birds, in a moment, countless birds flew together and formed a bridge across the river. The weaver and the cowboy finally could meet on the of the birdge. The queen had no alternative but agreed to let them meet on the 7th of 7th month every year.

From this story, the 7th of the 7th month on the lunar calendar has become a day of love. It is very common for single people to pray for love on that night, and it is also common for young women to pray for skills on the night.