Chinese Valentines Day falls twice this year

"Double Seventh Festival", dubbed as Chinese Valentines Day will take place this Monday. Different from the previous years, we will have the festival again on August 30th due to the intercalary month in the lunar calendar this year.

The Double Seventh Festival, also called "Qiqiao (pray for deftness) Festival" or "Daughter's Festival" falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar. When speaking of the festival, we cannot help but mention a love story that passes down among folks through generations. As the legend goes, in ancient China, a fairy from heaven Zhinu (Weaver Maid) fell in love with Niulang (Cowhand), a poor honest and kind-hearted fellow, and came down secretly to earth and married him, and gave birth to a son and daughter. When Zhinu's mother, the Queen of Heaven, found about, she was very angry and drew a line between them to separate them and only allow Zhinu to meet her husband and children on the date of July 7 in the Chinese calendar.

Twice "Double Seventh Festival" is surly a nice thing for the lovers. Researcher Wang Sichao from Purple Mountain Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also known as Zijin Shan Observatory, introduced that this month happened to be a leap month of a bissextile year; therefore two "Double Seventh Festival" appear. "It is really a one in a thousand; the previous time this situation occurred can be traced back to 1960s," he said.

By people's Daily Online