Double Seventh Day

III. Values and meanings of the Double Seventh Day

1. The Double Seventh Day has praised the view of unswervingly true love and shown people’s dream and pursuit of ideal love. It has inherited and carried forward the traditional virtue of a Chinese nation showing strong responsibility. 2. In farming society, family is not a basic production and life unit, but also a component cell of the whole society. Good relationships between couples and harmonious families can directly affect the society’s stability and development. Promoting the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid’s view of true and pure love and marriage has great significance under the shock of western culture. 3. The activities of pleading for skills or happiness on the Double Seventh Day have showed the Chinese nation’s diligence, self-improvement, continuous creativity, courage and pursuit of happy lives. These activities will surely further inspire the Chinese.

Ⅳ. Forge a modern Double Seventh Day

The Double Seventh Day needs the culture of love Although the Double Seventh Day is also called Qiqiao Festival, love is the most basic connotation of the festival. The love story of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid is a tragic, but it shows the spirit of pursuing romance and harmony of the Chinese nation.

The Double Seventh Day needs to keep up with the times Although the Double Seventh Day has a long history and profound meaning, it lacks activity carriers that are proper for young people. Therefore, people should explore its cultural meanings and provide distinguished custom forms which can be easily accepted. According to Jin Zhonghao, the vice president of Jilin Calligraphers Association, on the day of the festival, holding a series of activities which are helpful for people to communicate and get close with one another is a good development method of the Double Seventh Day.

The Double Seventh Day needs to connect with foreign cultures Valentine’s Day in the west has fashion carriers such as roses, chocolates and flowers, which attract young people, while Double Seventh Day doesn’t have such proper content for young people. Traditional customs such as worshiping and threading needles are too focused on traditions, and thus can’t be accepted by most present young people.

We should well combine eastern and western cultures to make traditional national culture exert its unique influence. Only through making the Double Seventh Day a festival attended by all can we better inherit it and carry it forward.