Qixi FestivalQixi Festival Customs

Beijing：Qiqiao activities primarily involve testing dexterity by threading needles. In Shanxi and some other parts of North China, there is also a tradition of sewing cloth tigers (布老虎). As part of Qixi qiqiao activities, older generations sew their affection into these cloth figures, expressing their hopes and blessings for the younger generation.

Hebei：Qixi qiqiao activities mainly center on testing dexterity through threading needles.

Shanxi：During Qixi qiqiao activities, there is a tradition of sewing cloth tigers (布老虎), embodying the hopes and blessings of older generations for the young.

Inner Mongolia：Qixi customs mainly consist of traditional qiqiao activities.

Liaoning / Jilin / Heilongjiang：Qixi customs are similar to those of North China, with qiqiao activities at their core.

Shanghai：Qixi customs mainly include traditional activities such as qiqiao and eating qiaoguo.

Jiangsu：In Yixing, there is a Qixi custom known as the Incense Bridge Gathering (香桥会), derived from the legend of the Magpie Bridge. People use long, thick sticks of wrapped incense to construct a bridge approximately four or five meters long and about half a meter wide, complete with railings and flowers made from five-colored threads. After nightfall, people worship the two stars and pray for blessings, then burn the incense bridge, symbolizing that the two stars have crossed the bridge and joyfully reunited. The old village of Doujing in Tanghui Township, Jiaxing, also observes the Incense Bridge Gathering.

Zhejiang：In the past, Kanshan Town in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, held an annual Qixi ritual called “Worshipping the Stars and Pleading for Skill” (祭星乞巧). An Eight Immortals table was placed in the courtyard with decorative edgings, seasonal fruits, and sacrificial wine arranged in the shape of a heart; young women offered wine to the Cowherd and Weaver Girl and prayed for deft hands and ingenuity. In old Ningbo, women picked hibiscus leaves, crushed them for their juice, and washed their hair with it; legend held that the Weaver Girl washed her hair with hibiscus-leaf juice, which was why it remained black. Young women also gathered among eggplant plants, lay on the ground with their ears pressed close, and listened for sounds; those who heard a clanging sound were considered to have “obtained skill.” In Wenzhou, flour was fashioned into various small forms and fried in oil, producing qiaoguo (巧果). At night, qiaoguo, lotus seedpods, white lotus roots, and red water caltrops were displayed, while girls threaded needles under the moon; alternatively, spiders were placed in boxes, and if a web had been spun when the box was opened the next day, this was called “obtaining skill” (得巧). Jiaxing has the Incense Bridge Gathering. In Jinhua, every household kills a rooster, meaning that if no rooster crows at dawn when the Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet, the pair can remain together forever. Wuyi’s custom of “Welcoming the Fairy on Qixi” is a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage practice: rural girls gather Vitex branches and Chinese tallow leaves, pound them for their juice, and wash their hair with it, while women set up incense tables with fruits and pastries and worship the Seven Fairies from afar. In Shitang Town, Wenling, Taizhou, the “Shitang Children’s Festival” (石塘小人节) is a national-level intangible cultural heritage practice. Elders pray to Qiniangma (七娘妈) on Qixi for children under the age of sixteen, and households with children set up offering tables with colorful pavilions, decorated sedan chairs, and other objects to worship Qiniangma. In Guanxi Village, Quzhou, the folk temple fair held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month began in the Ming dynasty and has continued for centuries. In rural Zhejiang, the custom of collecting dew in a washbasin is widespread; according to legend, the dew consists of the tears shed when the Cowherd and Weaver Girl reunite.

Anhui：Qixi customs mainly include traditional activities such as qiqiao and eating qiaoguo.

Fujian：In southern Fujian, Qixi is called “Qiniang’s Birthday” (七娘生) or “Qiniangma’s Birthday” (七娘妈生). Many customs are associated with the number seven: seven kinds of fruit offerings, seven sets of fragrant flowers and cosmetics, seven pairs of chopsticks, and seven wine cups. In Quanzhou, Qixi customs include “pleading for skill,” “displaying fruits,” and “children worshipping Tiansun (天孙).” A child’s first Qixi after birth requires a “new bond” (新契), through which the child worships Qiniangma as a qimu (契母, ritual godmother). On that day, the “life-prolonging cords” tied around the wrists during the Dragon Boat Festival are removed. People also make tangguo (糖粿)—red and white glutinous-rice balls with a depression pressed into the center—as offerings to Qiniangma. Women thread needles by moonlight in competitions to “obtain skill”; on Qixi night, young women and newly married women set up incense tables beneath the moonlight, burn incense, and worship the Weaver Girl. In Fuzhou, women arrange an incense burner together with tea, wine, the “five seeds” or wuzi (五子)—longan, red dates, hazelnuts, peanuts, and melon seeds—and cosmetics to worship the two stars. After the ritual, half the cosmetics are thrown onto the roof for the Weaver Girl, while the other half is kept for the women’s own use.

Jiangxi：Qixi customs mainly involve traditional activities such as qiqiao and displaying fruits and melons.

Shandong：In Jinan, Huimin, Gaoqing, and other places, qiqiao activities are very simple: fruits and melons are displayed for qiqiao, and if a lucky spider spins a web over the offerings, it is regarded as having “successfully pleaded for skill.” In Juancheng, Cao County, Pingyuan, and other areas, people eat qiaoqiao rice (巧巧饭): seven girls gather grain and make dumplings together, placing a coin, a needle, and a red date inside different dumplings. Whoever eats the coin is blessed with good fortune, whoever finds the needle will be dexterous, and whoever gets the red date will marry early. In Jiaodong, people commonly worship the Goddess of the Seven Sisters (七姐神). Young women dress in new clothes, gather together to form bonds as seven sworn sisters, and sing qiqiao folk songs. Around Zhucheng, Teng County, and Zou County, rain falling on Qixi is called “rain of longing” (相思雨) or “tears of longing” (相思泪). In southwestern Shandong, seven girls place water in a copper basin and expose it to the sun; after patterns appear on the water’s surface at noon, they “cast a needle” (抛针) to plead for skill. If the needle floats on the surface, the girl is considered a “skillful person” (巧人). After dinner, fruits and offerings are displayed, incense is lit, and the women kneel to worship the Weaver Star.

Henan：Qixi customs mainly center on qiqiao activities.

Hubei：The customs of Yunxi Qixi were included in the fourth batch of China’s national intangible cultural heritage list in 2014. In the Han River basin, including northwestern Hubei, Qixi is marked by three days and three nights of folk sacrificial rites, singing, and dancing.

Hunan：In Changsha, women in both urban and rural areas place fruits and melons in the courtyard and pray to the two stars for peace and safety. Girls learning embroidery thread needles beneath the moonlight, asking the Weaver Girl to teach them embroidery skills. On the night before Qixi, they place “mandarin-duck water” (鸳鸯水)—half well water and half river water—in buckets or basins and leave it outdoors overnight. The Youxian Gazetteer (《攸县志》) of Xiangtan records: “七月七日，妇女采柏叶、桃枝，煎汤沐发”.

Guangdong：In the Cantonese-speaking region, Qixi is called the “Birthday of the Seventh Sister” (七姐诞). Guangzhou’s “Worshipping the Seventh Sister” (拜七姐), also known as the “Qiniang Gathering” (七娘会), is particularly distinctive. Girls prepare various ingenious small objects in advance using colored paper, pith, and other materials. They soak grain seeds and mung beans until they sprout, calling them “immortal-worshipping grain” (拜仙禾) and “deity-worshipping vegetables” (拜神菜). From the evening of the sixth day to the evening of the seventh, girls put on new clothes and new jewelry, burn incense and light candles, and kneel beneath the stars in a rite called “welcoming the immortals” (迎仙), performing seven rounds of worship from the third to the fifth watch of the night. In the lamplight they hold thread and pass it through needle eyes; anyone who can thread seven needle eyes in a single attempt is said to have “obtained skill” (得巧) and is called a “skillful hand” (巧手). In Daojiao Town, Dongguan, the “Qixi Offering Table” (七夕贡案) is a traditional moon-worshipping custom. Its rites include arranging displays of craftsmanship, worshipping the immortals, pleading for skill, and washing with Seventh Sister water. Early on the sixth day, women arrange the sacrificial tables while crowds gather to view the offerings; at midnight on the seventh day, paper garments for the Seventh Sister are burned as part of the worship. In Zhu Village, the “Displaying for Qiniang” custom includes arranging displays of skill, worshipping the immortals, pleading for skill, eating Qiniang rice, and watching Qiniang opera. Guangzhou also has a Qixi custom in which women travel by boat to Shimen Chenxiangpu, decorating the boats with jasmine and Arabian jasmine flowers. In Guangdong folk tradition, Sterculia nobilis fruit (苹婆) is used as an offering. In Guangdong, Guangxi, and other regions, people traditionally store “Seventh-Day-of-the-Seventh-Month Water” (七月七水), also known as “Seventh Sister Water” (七姐水) or “Double-Seven Water” (双七水), which legend says can cure illness.

Guangxi：According to legend, fairies descend to the mortal world to bathe on the morning of Qixi, and drinking their bathwater can ward off evil, cure illness, and prolong life. This water is called “Double-Seven Water” (双七水). At the crowing of the rooster, people rush to the riverside to collect the water, storing it in a new earthen jar for later use. Children who are frail or frequently ill often wear a red cord tied with seven knots around their necks as a prayer for good health.

Hainan：Qixi customs resemble those of other parts of South China, with qiqiao activities at their core.

Hong Kong and Macao：Hong Kong shares many Qixi customs with Guangdong, including worship of the Seventh Sister. Macao’s Qixi customs belong to the same cultural tradition as those of the Cantonese-speaking region.

Sichuan：In southwestern China, there is a Qixi custom of dyeing fingernails.

Chongqing：Qixi customs mainly center on qiqiao activities.

Guizhou：Qixi customs resemble those of other parts of Southwest China.

Yunnan：Qixi customs mainly center on qiqiao activities.

Tibet：Qixi customs mainly consist of traditional qiqiao activities.

Shaanxi：On the Loess Plateau, women traditionally observe the Qixi custom of “binding Qiaogu” (结扎巧姑). Straw is tied into a roughly one-meter-tall figure called Qiaogu (巧姑, the Skillful Maiden, symbolizing the Weaver Girl), dressed in a green jacket and red skirt and seated in the courtyard. Women offer fruits and melons and bring out bean sprouts and scallion shoots grown in advance, known as “growing life” (种生) or “qiaoyaya” (巧芽芽). They cut bean shoots and green scallions and place them in bowls of clear water, judging their skill or lack of it by the shadows cast beneath the moon. They also compete in threading needles and hold paper-cutting competitions to test dexterity and ingenuity. Provincial-level intangible cultural heritage projects include the “Qixi Legend of Shipomiao Temple in Doumen, Chang’an” and the “Dali Qiqiao Festival.”

Gansu：The Qiqiao Festival in Xihe County and Li County, Longnan, has been passed down for more than 1,800 years and is known as a “living fossil” of ancient Chinese qiqiao customs. In 2008 it was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. Activities begin on the evening of the thirtieth day of the sixth lunar month and end on the evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, lasting seven days and eight nights. They are divided into seven stages: zuoqiao (坐巧), yingqiao (迎巧), jiqiao (祭巧), baiqiao (拜巧), yuqiao (娱巧), buqiao (卜巧), and songqiao (送巧). Zuoqiao is the preparation stage; yingqiao is the first ritual, in which girls dress in their finest clothes and form a procession outside the village to welcome Qiao Niangniang (巧娘娘) down to the mortal world; jiqiao consists of daily worship; baiqiao continues from the second through the sixth day, with participants visiting and worshipping together; yuqiao involves girls singing qiqiao songs and performing qiqiao dances; buqiao is the climax, when qiaoya sprouts are pinched off using “sacred water” and placed into water, with the projected patterns used to divine the future; during songqiao, late on the night of the seventh day, people sing the Songqiao Song (《送巧歌》), carry the image of Qiao Niangniang to the riverside, burn it, and send her back to the celestial realm. The qiqiao folk customs of Xihe County originated in the Qin and Han dynasties, developed through the Tang and Song dynasties, and flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Ningxia：Qixi customs mainly consist of traditional qiqiao activities.

Qinghai：Qixi customs mainly consist of traditional qiqiao activities.

Xinjiang：Qixi customs mainly consist of traditional qiqiao activities.

Taiwan：On Qixi, people worship Qiniangma (七娘妈). Every household prepares sacrificial animals and wine, fruits, flower powder, and other offerings, burns paper beneath the eaves, and celebrates Qiniangma’s birthday, burning together with the offerings the five-colored threads worn by children. Tainan’s “Coming of Age at Sixteen” (做十六岁) ceremony is the most famous. When a child reaches sixteen, the parents take the child to a Qiniangma temple to give thanks for her protection throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Students dress in the robes of a top imperial examination scholar and, accompanied by their parents, pass beneath the “Qiniangma Pavilion” (七娘妈亭), symbolizing that they have “grown into adulthood.” Taiwanese folk practice also includes preparing a small bowl of oily rice to worship the Bed Mother (床母) inside the home. The custom of worshipping Qiniangma on Qixi has been passed down since the Kangxi reign period.

In northern China, Qixi Festival centers on qiqiao (pleading for skill) and douqiao (斗巧, competing in skill), emphasizing the competition and display of women’s craftsmanship. In Jinan, Huimin, Gaoqing, and other parts of Shandong, fruits and melons are displayed for qiqiao; if a lucky spider spins a web over them, this is regarded as having “successfully pleaded for skill.” In Juancheng, Cao County, Pingyuan, and other places in Shandong, people eat qiaoqiao rice (巧巧饭): seven girls gather grain and make dumplings together, placing a coin, a needle, and a red date in different dumplings. The person who finds the coin is blessed with good fortune, the one who finds the needle will be dexterous, and the one who finds the red date will marry early. On the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi, women bind figures of Qiaogu, and hold competitions in threading needles, sewing, and cutting window-paper decorations. Kaifeng in Henan has a children’s custom involving Mohele (磨喝乐). Northern Qixi places greater emphasis on displaying and competing in women’s skills.

In southern China, “Worshipping the Seventh Sister” and “storing Qixi water” are among the most distinctive Qixi customs. Guangzhou’s “Worshipping the Seventh Sister”, or “Qiniang Gathering”, is particularly representative. Girls prepare small objects from colored paper, pith, and other materials in advance, and soak grain seeds and mung beans until they sprout, calling them “immortal-worshipping grain” and “deity-worshipping vegetables.” From the evening of the sixth day through the evening of the seventh, they perform seven rounds of worship. Guangxi has a custom of storing “Double-Seven Water”, which legend says can ward off evil, cure illness, and prolong life. In southern Fujian and Taiwan, Qixi developed into “Qiniangma’s Birthday,” a festival associated with protecting children as they grow. Zhejiang has romantic customs such as collecting dew and listening for whispered conversations beneath melon trellises. Southern Qixi places greater emphasis on sacrificial ritual and traditions of water worship.

In northwestern China, the Xihe Qiqiao Festival of Gansu is the most celebrated Qixi tradition. The Qiqiao Festival of Xihe County and Li County has been passed down for more than 1,800 years and is praised as a “living fossil” of ancient Chinese qiqiao customs. In 2008, it was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. Beginning on the evening of the thirtieth day of the sixth lunar month and ending on the evening of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the festival lasts seven days and eight nights and consists of seven stages: zuoqiao, yingqiao, jiqiao, baiqiao, yuqiao, buqiao, and songqiao. The Loess Plateau region of Shaanxi also preserves distinctive customs such as binding Qiaogu and divining through the shadows of objects placed in water.