| Niulang | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 An illustration of the couple at the Long Corridor of the Summer Palace, Beijing | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 牛郎 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 牛郎 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | The Cowherd | ||||||
| |||||||
Niulang is a Chinese deity who is identified as the star Altair in the constellation Aquila. He was a legendary figure and main character in the popular Chinese folk tale The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl . The earliest record of this myth is traced to over 2600 years ago.
Some legend said that Niulang and Zhinü were actually gods on Heaven. Niulang is responsible for the celestial herds. Zhinüis the seventh daughter of the Jade Emperor. They fell in love and were banished from Heaven because celestial laws forbade their romance. Zhinüwas punished by her father and forced to weave colorful clouds all day long. Niulang was reincarnated as a cowherd on earth who lost his parents at a young age and lived with his older brother and sister-in-law,and their story begins.
One day Zhinücame down to Earth and,while bathing in a river,Niulang was passing by the river and he saw Zhinu. He was extremely happy and stole her clothes. [1] Without her clothes,Zhinüwas unable to return to heaven. Instead,she decided to marry Niulang. Niulang farmed in the fields while Zhinüweaved at home and took care of their children. Zhinüwas so deeply in love and for so long that she no longer desired a return to heaven. However,their relationship was discovered by her father,Jade Emperor,who ordered the Queen Mother of the West to bring Zhinüback to Heaven. Niulang was very upset when he found out his wife had been taken back to heaven. Niulang's ox,who saw the events unfold,built a boat for him to carry his children up to Heaven. The ox was once the god of cattle but was punished after he had violated the laws of Heaven.
Just when Niulang and his sons were about to reach Heaven,the Queen Mother of the West punished them by creating the River of Heaven,or Milky Way,across the middle of the sky,separating the two lovers forever. Heartbroken,Zhinübecame the star Vega and Niulang the star Altair.
Eventually,the Queen Mother of the West allowed them to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month when a flock of magpies swarm into the sky and create a bridge for them to cross. [2] [3] The day is celebrated as the "Qixi Festival",also known as China's Valentine’s Day. [4] Today the Chinese phrase "Niulang Zhinü" is commonly used to describe loving married couples.
The story was selected as one of China's Four Great Folktales by the "Folklore Movement" in the 1920s—the others being the Legend of the White Snake,Lady Meng Jiang,and Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. [5]
Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi. According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.
Chinese astrology is based on traditional Chinese astronomy and the Chinese calendar. Chinese astrology flourished during the Han Dynasty.
The Summer Triangle is an astronomical asterism in the northern celestial hemisphere. The defining vertices of this imaginary triangle are at Altair, Deneb, and Vega, each of which is the brightest star of its constellation. The greatest declination is +45° and lowest is +9° meaning the three can be seen from all places in the Northern Hemisphere and from the home of most people resident in the Southern Hemisphere. The two stars in Aquila and Cygnus represent the head of an eagle and tail of a swan that looks east inscribed into the triangle and forming the altitude of the triangle. Two small constellations, Sagitta and Vulpecula, lie between Aquila in the south of the triangle and Cygnus and Lyra to the north.
The Qixi Festival, also known as the Qiqiao Festival, is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology. The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunisolar month on the Chinese lunisolar calendar.
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Leigong or Leishen, is the god of thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism. In Taoism, when so ordered by heaven, Leigong punishes both earthly mortals guilty of secret crimes and evil spirits who have used their knowledge of Taoism to harm human beings. He carries a drum and mallet to produce thunder, and a chisel to punish evildoers. Leigong rides a chariot driven by a young boy named A Xiang.
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The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend centered around a romance between a man named Xu Xian and a snake spirit named Bai Suzhen. It has since been presented in a number of major Chinese operas, films, and television series.
Chilseok is a Korean traditional festival which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Korean lunisolar calendar, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. Chilseok is a period where the heat starts to dwindle and the Wet season begins, and the rain that falls during this period is called Chilseok water. As pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons start to flourish during this period, people traditionally offered fried pumpkins to the Big Dipper.
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Zhinü is the goddess of weaving and the star Vega in Chinese mythology. She was the youngest of seven daughters of the Jade Emperor. It is believed that she weaved her father’s royal robes out of the clouds. She is identified as the star Vega in the constellation Lyra.
"The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" are characters found in Chinese mythology and are characters appearing eponymously in a romantic Chinese folk tale. The story tells of the romance between Zhinü and Niulang. Despite their love for each other, their romance was forbidden, and thus they were banished to opposite sides of the heavenly river. Once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a flock of magpies would form a bridge to reunite the lovers for a single day. Though there are many variations of the story, the earliest-known reference to this famous myth dates back to a poem from the Classic of Poetry from over 2600 years ago.
Oxen, cows, beef cattle, buffalo and so on are an important motif in Chinese mythology. There are many myths about the oxen or ox-like beings, including both celestial and earthly varieties. The myths range from ones which include oxen or composite beings with ox characteristics as major actors to ones which focus on human or divine actors, in which the role of the oxen are more subsidiary. In some cases, Chinese myths focus on oxen-related subjects, such as plowing and agriculture or ox-powered carriage. Another important role for beef cattle is in the religious capacity of sacrificial offerings.
Qixi Tribute (Chinese:七夕贡案; pinyin: Qīxì gòngàn) is an important and necessary part of annual celebration during the Qixi Festival or Qiqiao Festival. Based on the mythology about The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, a Qixi Tribute is a representation of their love meeting. It is one of the most popular customs of the Han Chinese in Dongguan, Guangdong province, especially in Wangniudun, a town in Dongguan city. Every year the government of Wangniudun holds a night-long Qixi festival celebration. Plenty of local people and tourists visit Wangniudun to share the happiness of the celebration.
Fan Lihua (樊梨花) is a fictional folk heroine in Chinese folklore and a legendary female general from the Western Liang during the early years of the Tang dynasty. She was the wife of Xue Dingshan and the daughter-in-law of the famous early Tang dynasty general Xue Rengui.
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