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Celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese
calendar, the Chinese Valentine's Day is a day of romance,
love and passion in the Chinese calendar.
Like always, there is also a nice little love story attached
with this day. It is a story of the 7th daughter of the Emperor
of the Heaven and an orphaned cowherd.Long ago, there was
a poor orphaned boy living with his elder brother and sister-in-law.
After the demise of the parents, the elder brother inherited
the House while the boy got only an old ox as his share in
the parental property.
He was supposed to work on the fields every day with the
ox. While on the other hand the emperor's daughter was so
good at weaving clothes that she was given the name of 'Weaving
maid'. The ox was actually an immortal from the heaven that
was sent on the earth because of the mistakes he committed
in the heaven.
One day he said to the boy that if he wanted to get married
he should go to the brook. The innocent boy went to the brook
and found all the 7 daughters of the emperor of the heaven,
taking a bath in the brook. He fell in love with the 7th fairy
and hid her clothes secretly. When the 7th fairy asked him
for her clothes back, he told her that she would have to marry
him. The fairy agreed and they got married and had two children.
The ox died and told the boy to keep his hide for emergency
purposes. On the other hand the emperor wanted his daughter
back and hence asked the fairy's grandmother to bring her
back. When the grandmother was taking the 7th fairy to the
heaven, the boy wore the hide of the ox, took his two children
along and chased after his wife in the sky. To keep them separated
the grandmother created a milky way with her hairpin. So now
the 7th fairy lived on the star Vega and the boy with their
children lived on the star Altair. It is said that these two
lovers meet each other on the evening of the 7th day of the
7th lunar month, which came to be celebrated as the Chinese
Valentine's Day.
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