Chinese Valentine's Day is special
for all those people who are in love. On this day the lovers go
to the temple of Matchmaker and pray for the success of their
love and the possible marriage. On the other hand all those who
are single go to the Matchmaker temple and ask their luck in
love.
It has been a tradition in China that the Chinese girls always
wished to learn to have a good handcrafting skill, just like the
Weaving Maid, which is considered essential for their future
family. On the auspicious night of the Chinese Valentine's Day
the unmarried girls offer prayers to the Weaving Maid star and
wish to be smarter. The same night, when the star Vega is high
up in the sky, girls in China perform a test by putting a needle
on the water surface. They believe that if the needle put by a
girl doesn't sink it means the girl is mature and smart enough
and hence eligible to find a husband. All the girls who pass
this test can ask for any one wish.
It is also a tradition in China that on this day the young
girls demonstrate their domestic arts, specifically the melon
carving. Therefore the Chinese Valentine's Day is also called "The
Festival to Plead for Skills", "The Seventh
Sister's Birthday" and "The Night of Skills".
In some of the Chinese provinces, it is a tradition to decorate
the ox's horn with flowers on the Chinese Valentine's Day. The
popular belief behind this tradition is that the ritual will
save the people from any disaster. On the night of Chinese
Valentine's Day, women wash their hair to make them look fresh
and shiny. And the children wash their faces the next morning
using the overnight water to get a more natural and beautiful
look. The girls also throw five-color rope on the roof for the
magpies out of belief that the magpies will carry that rope to
build the bridge for the Zhi Nu and Niu Lang.
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