Qiu Guang painted a cold screen with a red candle and fanned a small fan to drive away fireflies. Day and night are as cool as water. Sit and watch the morning glory and Vega.
This poem describes the helplessness and loneliness of the harem women on Tanabata night, watching the cowherd and the weaver girl get together, but they are alone and can't be taken care of by the emperor. Candles have a heart (core), which is cold. Autumn fans see donations, and the night is lonely. "Day steps" refer to the steps of the palace. "Sit" and "Lie".
"Petunia" is the main star of the Eagle constellation, that is, the river drum, commonly known as Altair (shoulder pole star). "Weaver Girl" is the main star of Lyra. The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is a legend created by the ancients according to the astronomical phenomena. Vega is in the north of the Milky Way, and Altair is in the south of the Milky Way, facing each other across the Milky Way. In the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the distance between the two stars is the closest, so there is a legend of meeting on the seventh day of July. In ancient mythology, the cowherd and the weaver girl were husband and wife. According to legend, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet once a year in the evening of July 7th in Tianhe Queqiao. (See "When Li was three years old" quoted "Customs Tong")
If it rains this day, say it's the tears of the cowherd and the weaver girl. Cowherd and Weaver Girl are a couple of immortals. Their love is not recognized by the Emperor of Heaven, and they can only live apart all the year round and get together once a year. The little stars on both sides of Vega seem to be the axles of the spinning wheel she uses, and the little stars on both sides of Altair seem to be a pair of children on his shoulder pole.
July 7th, also called Tanabata, is also called Valentine's Day in China because of the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. The Tang Dynasty gave 1 day off. The theme of this day is often eager to meet and beg skillfully.
The weaver girl is also called "Tiansun" (the granddaughter of the Queen Mother). She knits fast and well, and is good at women workers (red), so women all over the world will ask Tiansun for help on that day, so this day is also called "Qiaoqiao Festival" or "Daughter's Day".
Tanabata, as the romance of Valentine's Day, can best be expressed by Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow: "On the seventh day of July, in the Palace of Eternal Life, we secretly told each other in the quiet midnight world. We hope to fly in heaven, two birds grow together on the earth with the same wing, two branches of a tree ... "On the night of Tanabata, Tang and Yang Guifei dated at the Palace of Eternal Life. In the middle of the night, they swore in a low voice: In Fly with Me, Heaven and Earth, they will tie the knot forever and never part.
In fact, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei only lived in Huaqing Palace in autumn and winter, and probably wouldn't make a wish in a low voice in the immortal hall of Huaqing Palace on Tanabata. This is just an excuse.
Regarding the custom of piercing needles on Qixi night, Xijing Miscellanies (volume 1) records that "women in the Han Dynasty often pierced seven holes in the building on July 7, and all of them were there." This custom dates back to the Han Dynasty.
Wang Jian's "One Hundred Poems of the Palace" 93: "Draw a Tianhe and carve it into a cow, while a jade shuttle and a golden tweezer will pick up the bridge. Every year, I wear a needle in the palace and give it to Qiaolou. "
Wang Renyu's "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao" has a "Qiaoqi Building": "The palace is built with brocade and is 100 feet high, which can beat dozens of people in the world. Chen cooked with melons and fruits, and gave a banquet to worship Niu Nv. The concubines wear nine-hole needles and five-color lines to the moon, which is a clever pass. The song of the Qing Dynasty merchants, the banquet of Dadan and the home of the literati all have effects. "
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, there was a colorful brocade building in the palace, which was 100 feet high. (Li Bai's poem: "The dangerous building is 100 feet high, and the hand can pick the stars. I dare not speak loudly for fear of disturbing people. " "One hundred feet" is now about a dozen stories high. ) upstairs can accommodate dozens of people, with fruits, wine and meat, offering sacrifices to cowherd and weaver girl. The concubines hold five-color thread in one hand and nine-hole needle in the other (just now, "Miscellanies of Xijing" said that the seven-hole needle was worn in the Han Dynasty), and threading the needle in the crystal moonlight means that it is a gift from heaven (in fact, it is very handy to be able to thread it). Playing elegant music, drinking and entertaining all night, more exquisite people follow the example of the palace. It seems that this custom spread from the harem to the people.
It is said that on this day, the emperor specially allowed the wives of the wives in the palace to visit their daughters in the palace and gather in Qiao Qi Building to express their feelings. On the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met, the women in the palace still couldn't see the men.
Wang Ya's "Gong Ci" XXI: "It rises above the Furong Pavilion and hangs in autumn for nine days. In the sunshine of Tanabata every year, the maids wear needles upstairs. " Bright Yao on Tanabata (Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet and cry? ), the ladies-in-waiting went upstairs (Qiaoqi Building) to try their best.
Zonggu's Chronicle of Jingchu is recorded as follows: "Is it a woman of Xi family, wearing colored thread, wearing a seven-hole needle, or using gold and silver? (The computer didn't find the word) Stone is a needle, and Chen Guaguo seeks cleverness in court. If you have a happy subnet on melon, you think it is corresponding. " "Xizi" is a spider. The spider makes a web on the melon and fruit, which means it is very clever. Obviously, this is also a psychological suggestion.
There is also a special kind of spider.
According to Wang Renyu's "The Legacy of Kaiyuan Tianbao", Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei "have held a banquet in Huaqing Palace every night since the listing of Chen Gua Huajiu, a maid-in-waiting, to intercede with Petunia and Zhinv. They also caught spiders and kept them in a small box until they realized that the cobwebs were sparse and dense, thinking that the time was ripe. The secret person speaks skillfully, the rare person speaks skillfully, and the people work. " This method of divination is that, on the night of the Beggar's Day on July 7th, ladies-in-waiting locked the spider they caught in a small box and opened it early, which indicates the cleverness of the spider's web. If the cobwebs are dense, it will be much smarter. If the spider web is sparse, it is not so smart. The more skilled the maid-in-waiting, the happier she will be, and the less skilled she will be, the more depressed she will be.
Begging every year is clever with the world, but there are many clever ways!
In addition to longing for lovers to meet, women in the harem also expect to meet their wives, thread needles or raise spiders to be clever, and there is also the custom of revealing clothes in Qixi Palace. Taiping Yulan Volume 3 1 Quote "Four-person Monthly Order": "On July 7, the book was unveiled, Xi Zhi."