Qpapa英語角~七夕情人節-Qixi Festival @ 大全國際，帶您飛向國際

又是一年一度的 #七夕情人節，我們來學學如何用英文介紹這個傳統的中國節慶吧！

農曆七月七日中國情人節又名七夕節或乞巧節，這是一個關於牛郎和織女的愛情神話故事。

The Chinese Valentine's Day falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of lunar calendar is known as Qixi Festival or Qiqiao Festival. This is a romantic mythology about the cowherd(Niulang) and the weaver girl(Zhinü).

「織女」是玉皇大帝的第七個女兒，而「牛郎」只是一個地球上的凡人，他們兩人不顧玉皇大帝的反對，堅持相愛、結婚，並擁有兩個小孩，生氣的玉皇大帝將牛郎與織女拆開，兩人非常難過的被分到銀河的兩端，最後喜鵲被他們的愛情感動了，於是在每年在農曆七月七日築橋讓他們見一次面。

Zhinü is the seventh daughter of Jade emperor and Niulang is just a mortal on the earth. They ignored the disagreement of Jade emperor to love each other, get married and have two children. Then, the furious Jade emperor separated Niulang from Zhinü. Both Niulang and Zhinü were very sad that they were separated to the opposite sides of the milky way. In the end, the magpies were touched by their love so formed them a bridge to meet each other once a year on 7th day of 7th lunar month.

★常見民俗活動 Folk festival activities：

●乞巧 Pleading skills：To "plead skills" is to thread into a seven-holes needle speedily under moonlight. The one who threads the fastest is said to be handy and skillful in the future.

●拜織女 Worshiping the weaver fairy：The offerings to worship the weaver fairy are tea, wine, fruits and five kinds of nuts (longans, jujubes, hazelnuts, peanuts and melon seeds). Women sat around the table while meditating on what are on their minds. Also, they played games or read poems until midnight.