Chinese Valentine’s Day is by no means confined to flowers and chocolates.

Beyond the romance embraced by certain contemporary couples, Qixi constitutes an age-old tradition steeped in legend, supplication, and cultural practices that endure to the present day.

The festival is commemorated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the Chinese calendar, which corresponded to August 19, 2026.

Additionally, observances take place in Singapore, Vietnam, and other Asian nations.

On Wednesday, Beijing's Folk Custom Museum held events under a program called "Asking for Skills," which mirrors a Qixi tradition where women once prayed for dexterity and demonstrated their abilities through handicrafts.

“We are particularly keen for younger audiences to grasp the significance of our traditional festivals through immersive and participatory experiences,” remarked Jia Juan, a member of the museum’s Public Education Department.

The museum, housed within Beijing's Dongyue Taoist Temple, has been orchestrating Qixi-themed events for the past fourteen years, each drawing an audience of roughly five hundred.

Wednesday's program opened with a performance of Chinese classical music, followed by hands-on activities for families that drew on traditional Qixi customs.

One involved dyeing fingernails with garden balsam, a natural pigment traditionally associated with beauty and blessings.

Another featured Song brocade bead painting, combining a precious Chinese silk fabric with pearls that symbolize completeness and good fortune.

Participants were encouraged to craft their own sachet-shaped Song brocade pearl paintings, with the objective of embodying “qiqiao,” a principle centered on the pursuit of skill and dexterity.

Wang Xuejie attended alongside her 7-year-old daughter, and together they fashioned “qiaoguo,” a confection produced by pressing dough into intricately carved molds.

"We managed to gain a broad insight into how, during the Qixi Festival in ancient times, girls and women articulated their aspirations and hopes for their own personal development," Wang remarked.

Jia noted that Chinese girls began practicing qiqiao during the Tang and Song dynasties, a period spanning the seventh through the thirteenth centuries.

She added that the origins of the Qixi Festival can be traced back to the reverence and astronomical study of the stars by ancient peoples.

Historically, Qixi has revolved around two principal themes: one rooted in legend, embodying its romantic dimension, and the other centered on the practice of qiqiao.

In Chinese mythology, Zhinü, a celestial weaver maiden represented by the star Vega, falls deeply in love with Niulang, a cowherd embodied by the star Altair.

Their forbidden romance prompts the Jade Emperor to decree that they be separated on opposite banks of the Milky Way.

They are permitted to reunite but once a year — on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month — upon a bridge formed by magpies.

Jia noted that records of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl can be traced back to the pre-Qin period, prior to 221 B.C.

Subsequently, during the Han Dynasty, customs associated with qiqiao began to emerge.

Researcher Lynn Wong is keen to resurrect the festival in Singapore through an initiative dubbed Qixi Fest, a multi-day event inaugurated in 2023.

This year's iteration is scheduled to continue until August 23rd.

“Our aim is to cultivate the childhood memories of this new generation of Singaporeans, ensuring they grow up immersed in the same stories that our forefathers cherished,” Wong remarked.

She recalls that, during a conversation with a friend about Chinese festivals, she came to realize she had never encountered Qixi.

This prompted her to begin interviewing elders, who shared their recollections of the festival, and the findings from that research are chronicled in a book.

Qixi arrived in Singapore around the 1930s, accompanying Chinese women migrants.

Substantial numbers of men had previously established themselves there in pursuit of employment, yet migration patterns underwent a transformation.

Alongside these women — particularly those hailing from China's Guangdong region — came a host of customs and beliefs, some of which gradually waned over the ensuing years.

“I feel that in my generation, we lost quite a lot of our roots,” Wong said.

“I grew up with things like the Tooth Fairy, ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and ‘Three Little Pigs,’ but what about the stories that our foremothers grew up listening to?”

Hor Xin Hao, of Cantonese descent, is among a select few who uphold the traditional observance of Qixi in Singapore.

On the night of the sixth day of the seventh lunar month, his family arranges a prayer altar before their home, oriented toward the night sky.

Their devotions extend past midnight as they present offerings to the Seven Maidens, the celestial sisters who include the Weaver Girl.

Ritual offerings include incense, flowers, perfume, cosmetics, and soap, which Hor says are believed to bring beauty and charm once blessed by the cowherd and the seven maidens.

"I personally think that Valentine's Day actually narrows the festival's original meaning," said Hor, who sees Qixi as a celebration of traditional values and ancestral heritage.

“It encapsulates our worldview, shaped by the dynamic interplay between ourselves and the cosmos,” he remarked.

Olivia Zhang, a reporter and video producer, contributed to this report.