Night of Seven, or Qi-Xi Festival

 THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH

Today I am talking about a very special celebration, the equivalent in China to the day of lovers, known as Night of Seven, or Qi-Xi Festival (qī xī jié): which means ′′ Double Seven Festival ".

As astronomy lovers, we discover that many human celebrations are related to what happens in our sky. In this case, the mythological story that inspires it is related to the stars Vega and Altair; two of the brightest stars in the sky of this time-which you can see indicated in the image of the Stellarium-and that together with Deneb make up the known asterism from the Summer Triangle.

The name of Double Seven Festival comes because it is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese calendar. Which gives us a little bit of telling you about that calendar. It's a lunisolar calendar, whose beginning is determined by looking for the new moon closest to the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. This year 2020 corresponds to the 25th of January. So Chinese months are polka dots, always starting at the new moon. The seventh Chinese month begins the seventh new moon from this date and corresponds to August 25 Today is therefore the seventh day of the seventh month.

If we contemplate tonight the stars after sunset, we see the Summer Triangle shine brightly on the east. Vega is the tallest star of the three that make it up, finding herself at about 80º tall. Across the Milky Way shine Altair, something lower, at 50º high. This time of year they say light conditions make it look as if a bridge unites both stars, slightly above the star Deneb-the the brightest in the Swan constellation.

Legend has it that every year on the seventh night of the seventh moon, a flock of magpies forms a bridge with its wings so that Zhi Nu (the star Vega) and Niu Lang (the star Altair) can gather, crossing the flowy Milky Way river. This famous myth dates back more than 2.600 years ago and tells us about the romance that has emerged between two young people. Although it's a little long, we'll tell you below:

′′ She was called Zhi Nu-the Seamstress Fairy -, and was the daughter of Wangmu, the queen goddess of heaven and wife of the Emperor of Jade, the supreme divinity of Taoism. His name was Niu Lang-the Oxen Shepherd -, and he was caught up with his beauty on an occasion when the weaving fairy came down to Earth. Soon, the two secretly married completely in love. They had two sons, a boy, and a girl, and they were very happy.

When the goddess-queen Wangmu, after several years, learned about her daughter's marriage to Zhi Nu to a mortal, Niu Lang, became enraged; and took her back to heaven against her will. With what was sadly left away from her loving family. Niu Lang, covered in the skin of a magical ox and with his two children on the slopes - stars Alshain and Tarazed, both flanking the bright Altair - managed to climb into the sky to try to rescue his wife. But the queen discovered it and, taking a golden fork from her hair, ripped the firmament with her, thus separating the couple forever. The two husbands stayed on opposite sides of the heavenly river-the the Milky Way-looking at each other without reaching. Zhi Nu (Vega) remains forever on the side of the river, knitting sad on her loom, while Niu Lang (Altair) sees her from the other shore, taking care of her two children.

His faithful love touched the magpies so much that, once a year, every seventh day of the seventh month, thousands of these birds fly in flock creating a bridge for the two lovers to reunite ".

It seems that it wasn't the boyfriends, but the married ones, who celebrated this day their ' sincere, faithful, and constant love beyond death '. However, today the party is no longer just for husbands, but for all lovers, and it was officially included since 2006 as China's Day of Love.

A good excuse to have a detail with your partner today.

Credits and copyright: Stellarium, infographic; illustration, fresco located in the summer palace of Beijing, via Wikipedia.