Meet at magpie bridge

Meet at magpie bridge

Chinese folklore says that magpies build bridges on the Milky way on the seventh night of the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar to let Cowherd and Weaver Girl meet on the bridge. The rainy day on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is just their tears. It refers to the reunion of lovers or couples after a long separation.

In Qixi written by Quan Deyu of Tang Dynasty, "today's crossing of magpie bridge by yungeng is not the pulse and distance." The meeting of magpie bridge praises the firm love of Chinese working people and plays a positive role in the pursuit of a better life.

Detailed explanation

According to Chinese folklore, on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh lunar month, magpies build a bridge on the Milky way and let Niulang and Zhinv meet on the bridge.

allusion

Tanabata Festival has always been connected with the legend of Cowherd and weaver girl. It is a love story that has been handed down through the ages and is one of the four major folk love legends in China.

It is said that a long time ago, there was a smart and honest young man in niujiazhuang, west of Nanyang city. His parents died early, so he had to live with his brother and sister-in-law. His sister-in-law Ma was cruel and often abused him, forcing him to do a lot of work. Because he often herded cattle and kept company with cattle, people called him Niulang. One autumn, his sister-in-law forced him to herd cattle and gave him nine cows, but asked him to wait until he had ten to go home. The cowherd had no choice but to drive the cattle out of the village.

Niulang drove the cattle into the mountain alone. On the mountain with deep grass and dense forest, he sat down under the tree and was sad. He didn't know when he would drive ten cows home. At this time, an old man with white hair and beard appeared in front of him and asked him why he was sad. When he learned what happened to him, he said with a smile: "don't be sad. There is an old cow in Funiu Mountain who is sick. Go to feed it well and wait for the old man When the cow is well, you can drive it home

After a long walk, Niulang finally found the sick old cow. When he saw that the old cow was seriously ill, he went to get a bundle of grass for the old cow and fed it for three days. When the old cow was full, he raised his head and told him that he was the great fairy of the grey cow in the sky. He was demoted to heaven because he broke the sky rules. He broke his leg and couldn't move. His injury needed to be washed with a hundred flowers of dew for a month. The cowherd was not afraid of hard work and took good care of the old cow for a month. In the morning, he picked dew from various flowers to cure his wounds. In the evening, he nestled up to him and slept. After the old cow got well, the cowherd happily drove ten cows home.

After returning home, his sister-in-law was still not good to him. She had hurt him several times, but Lao Niu tried to help him. The sister-in-law finally became angry and drove the cowherd out of the house. The cowherd only wanted the old cow to accompany him. The cowherd is very considerate in looking after the old cow. Every day when cattle are herding, he always chooses the best grass to eat the fat and tender grass. When the old cow is thirsty, he leads him to the upstream of the stream to drink the cleanest water. The old cow was very close to him, often looked at him with gentle eyes, and sometimes put out his tongue to lick his hand.

One night, the cowherd walked into the cowshed and suddenly heard a "cowherd!" Who called him? Looking back, under the faint starlight, it turned out that Lao Niu was talking. Lao Niu asked him to go over the mountain on the right at dusk the next day. There was a lake beside the mountain. Every evening, seven fairies would go down to the lake to take a bath. As long as the cowherd steals one of the clothes, the fairy can't return to the heavenly palace and will stay as his wife.

After listening to Lao Niu's words, Niu Lang secretly hid one of the fairies' clothes. When the fairies finished their bath and wanted to go back to the heavenly palace, the youngest Weaver found her clothes missing and began to cry. At this time, the cowherd appeared with her clothes in his hand, and asked the weaver girl to promise to be his wife before returning the clothes to her. The weaver girl saw that the cowherd was honest and honest, so she agreed shamefully and became the cowherd's wife. The weaver girl also distributed the silkworms she had brought from the sky to us, and taught us how to raise silkworms, draw silk, and weave bright silks and satins.

After the marriage of Niulang and Zhinu, the men ploughed and the women weaved. They had two children, a man and a woman. The family was very happy. But it didn't last long. The emperor of heaven soon knew that the queen mother herself came down to earth and forced Zhinu back to heaven. The loving couple were separated.

The cowherd has no way to go to heaven, or the old cow tells the cowherd that after he dies, he can make shoes out of his skin and wear them to heaven. Niulang did it according to Laoniu's words. He put on the shoes made of cowhide and took his children to the sky to chase Zhinu. When he saw that he was about to catch up with Zhinu, he didn't know that with a wave of the gold hairpin from the Queen Mother's head, a turbulent Tianhe appeared. Niulang and Zhinu were separated on both sides of the Strait, and they could only cry. From then on, the cowherd was on the other side of the Tianhe River, and the weaver girl was on the other side of the Tianhe river. After a long time, they became Altair and Vega on both sides of the Tianhe river.

Their loyal love moved the magpies. Tens of thousands of magpies came to build a magpie bridge and let the Cowherd and the weaver girl go to the magpie bridge to meet each other. The queen mother had no choice but to allow them to meet at the magpie bridge on July 7 every year.

Later, on the seventh day of the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, it is said that on the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver meet at magpie bridge, the girls will come to the moon before the flower, look up at the starry sky, look for the Cowherd and the weaver star on both sides of the Milky way, hope to see their annual meeting, and pray that God can make them as clever as the weaver girl, and pray that they can have a satisfactory marriage On the eve of the festival.

Address: Luoyan scenic area, East Lake, QingWang highway, Hongshan District, Wuhan City

Longitude: 114.43740982936

Latitude: 30.558271949666

Ticket information: no ticket required. Included in the ticket of Luoyan scenic spot

Chinese PinYin : Que Qiao Xiang Hui