Listen to this articleThe Qixi Festival is the most romantic element among traditional festivals in our country. It has always been the “darling” of literati and poets. There are countless descriptions of Qixi Festival in literary works, and there are many examples in the four famous novels.
“Dream of Red Mansions”
“A Dream of Red Mansions” has a lot of ink on traditional festivals such as the Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival, but rarely describes the romantic Qixi Festival. There are only a few tunes, which appear in the novel in the form of poems and songs. As a novel that successfully portrays “Bao Dai’s Love Song“, why cherish ink like gold for Qixi Festival?
The earliest content related to Qixi Festival appeared in the 18th chapter “Grand View Garden Examination Questions Correct, Rongguo Mansion Returns to the Province to Celebrate Lantern Festival“. In the Yuanchun Jin Dynasty, when the concubine Xiande was granted, and she went home to visit her relatives, it was the Lantern Festival. In this episode, Cao Xueqin used lantern riddles and play titles to hint at the different fates and endings of the women in the Grand View Garden, and the joy in front of him reveals the sorrow in the future.
“When I was young, (Yuanchun) ordered four plays: the first “Luxury Banquet“, the second “Qi Qiao“, the third “Xian Yuan“, and the fourth “Li Hun“. “. As one of Jia Yuanchun’s four plays in Lantern Festival, “Qi Qiao” comes from “The Palace of Eternal Life” written by Hong Sheng, a playwright in the early Qing Dynasty. “Time” oath, behind which also implies Yuanchun’s last tragic fate.
There are a large number of poems and songs in “A Dream of Red Mansions” to describe the character of the characters. Among them, the words and sentences related to Qixi Festival appear in the 40th chapter “Shi Taijun Two Banquets in the Grand View Garden, Golden Mandarin Duck and Three Proclamation of Yapai Order“. Yuanyang said: “Twenty-five of them are miscellaneous sevens.” Aunt Xue said: “Weaver Girl Cowherd will meet Qixi Festival.”
In the 42nd chapter “Hengwu Junlan speaks to solve doubts, Xiaoxiangzi makes up for the remaining fragrance“, Wang Xifeng asks Grandma Liu to name her daughter because of her illness. Grandma Liu asked her birthday, and Sister Feng said it was the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, so Grandma Liu named her “Sister Qiao“.
According to Grandma Liu’s meaning, if she chooses this name, she will live a long life. When you grow up in the future, everyone will start a family and start a business, or if something goes wrong for a while, disaster will inevitably turn into good luck, and every bad luck will turn into good luck. “It all comes from the word ‘qiao’.”
In the 78th chapter, “Old Scholars Leisurely Conquered Ci, and the Foolish Young Master Made Up Furong“, Jia Baoyu wrote “Furong’s Daughter” to commemorate Qingwen. One of the couplets said: “The magpie in the empty building hangs the needle of the Qixi Festival; who will continue the five threads if the mandarin duck is broken?” Needle begging for cleverness.
“A Dream of Red Mansions” does not seem to be keen on the festival of Qixi Festival. In the eyes of the nobles, it is unlucky to fall on Qixi Festival. Sister Feng said that Qiaojie’s birthday was on the seventh day of the seventh month, and “it’s not a good time to raise her.” Grandma Liu said that the name Qiaojie was “fighting poison with poison, and fighting fire with fire”, which also revealed why the Qixi Festival in “Dream of Red Mansions” was not taken seriously.
“Three Kingdoms”
There is no direct description of Qixi Festival in “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms“, but in the 63rd chapter “Zhuge Liang cried bitterly for Pang Tong, Zhang Yide explained Yan Yan” through Zhuge Liang’s mouth: but said that Kong Ming was in Jingzhou, and it was the Qixi Festival. Let’s talk about closing Sichuan. I saw a star in the west, as big as a bucket, falling from the sky, and the streamer was scattered. Kongming was startled, threw his cup on the ground, covered his face and cried, “Alas! It hurts!” All the officials panicked and asked why. Kong Ming said: “My former calculation is that this year’s Gang Xing is in the west, which is not conducive to the military division; the Tiangou invaded our army, and Taibai came to Luocheng. I have worshiped the Lord of the Book and taught me to guard against it. Whoever thinks that the western star will fall tonight, Pang Shiyuan’s life will die!” After speaking, he cried loudly and said, “My lord has lost an arm!” All the officials were shocked and did not believe his words. Kong Ming said: “In a few days, there must be news.”
“Water Margin”
“Water Margin” has almost no description of Qixi Festival, except that it is slightly reflected in the names of people. In the 43rd chapter “Jinbaozi Trail Meets Dai Zong, Biaoguan Suochang Street Meets Shixiu“, Tianlao Xingguan Suo Yangxiong’s wife appeared on the stage and pointed out the reason for his name “Qiaoyun“.
“Walk out of the place where the cloth was made. It turned out that the woman was born on July 7th, so the small characters are called Qiaoyun.” In the Song and Yuan dynasties, the seventh day of the lunar calendar was a folk festival. Taking Qixi Festival as “begging for cleverness” was popular in the Song Dynasties, and people born on July 7 were often named “Qiao”.
As a woman whose life style deviates in “Water Margin”, Pan Qiaoyun has only a few appearances, from 45 episodes of “Yang Xiong Drunkly Scolding Pan Qiaoyun” to 46 episodes of “Illness Suo makes a big fuss in Cuiping Mountain” ended her absurd and sad life.
“Journey to the West”
“Journey to the West” takes the stories of Buddhist disciples as the theme, and has little to do with Qixi Festival. But it has to be mentioned that the daughter king has a deep affection for Tang Seng. A woman is willing to use “royal power and wealth” to fight against his “precepts and rules“, but her “love and desire” meets Tang Sanzang’s “flowing water is ruthless“, so she has to “quietly ask the holy monk whether her daughter is beautiful“.
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