Wednesday 6 August 2008

The Celebration for Maiden Immortal Qi Xing (七星娘娘七夕情)

Maiden Immortal Qi Xing aka Qi Xing Niang (七星娘) or Qi Xing Ma (七星媽), an individual or a Group of Female Deities whom being manifested from the Natural Stars in the Universe.

 

According to Myths and Folks Records, Qi Xing Ma was considered as the Seven Daughters of the Jade Emperor of Heaven and Mother Queen (玉皇與王母之女). Since the day these Seven Maidens were born, they were good in doing weaving and sewing and so, in the Heavenly Realm, whenever there were Big Occasions or Celebration, these Seven Maidens would be put-in-charge to create various Precious Gifts and Banners for the Immortals & Deities.

 

One year, while Mother Queen was having some preparation for her Manifestation Anniversary Celebration on the 18th Day of Lunar 7 Month, the Seven Maidens were being called upon to Mother Queen’s Palace for presenting ideas of how should the Celebration be held on that year.

 

One of the Seven Maidens suggested that maybe they could descend into the Mortal World to do some searching for various Gems or Treasures and so, Mother Queen agreed.

 

On the way to search for the Gifts and Ideas, the Seven Maidens passed by a Village near to one of the Holy Mountain. Looking at the nice and cooling Lake, the Seven Maidens stopped by the Lake and started to play with the Clear Water. Just at the moment of the Seven Maidens were playing with the Water, a young guy known as Dong Yong (董永) passed-by.

 

With the laughter sound, Dong Yong was being attracted to the Lakeside and took a peek at the Seven Maidens and he was deeply attracted by the youngest Maiden known as Qi Niang (七娘) or Zhi Nv (織女).

 

Just at the moment, the Seven Maidens started to leave the Lake and immediately, Dong Yong went over to Qi Niang and pulled on her sleeve, Qi Niang was shocked and started to call out for her Sisters.

 

Worrying of getting bashed up, Dong Yong explained to Qi Niang and the rest of the Maidens of how he got attracted by Qi Niang and his background, the Seven Maidens were moved by Dong Yong and so, they stayed for awhile to assist Dong Yong in overcoming his problems.

 

At the period of assisting Dong Yong, Qi Niang fell in love with him and after the problems solved, Qi Niang reluctantly wanted to return to the Celestial Palace. Just at the moment, the Heavenly Gong sounds for the Celebration and the other Maidens were worried of getting reprimanded and so, they started to leave the premises of Dong Yong, leaving Qi Niang and Dong Yong behind.

 

A year had passed and Qi Niang gave birth to a Twin for Dong Yong.

 

Just at the period of Mother Queen’s Manifestation Anniversary getting near, one day, the Sky turned extremely dark and Thunder was roaring everywhere. At this moment, Qi Niang knew that the Heavenly Generals were there to capture her back and so, she told Dong Yong that she was actually an Immortal Maiden of the Heavenly Realm. After hearing that, Dong Yong was shocked and moved, but just so co-incidence, the Heavenly Generals descended on the Ground and captured Qi Niang back to the Heavenly Realm.

 

Upon reaching the Heavenly Realm, Mother Queen was extremely upset by Qi Niang and of cos, Qi Niang was begging sincerely for Mother Queen’s forgiveness and also, allowing her and Dong Yong of not being separated apart.

 

After seeing how sincere and pitiful Qi Niang was, Mother Queen agreed to let them meet-up on evern 7th Day of Lunar 7 Month before the Manifestation Anniversary of Mother Queen. Qi Niang was delighted and kowtow to Mother Queen for her mercies.

 

So after then, every year, on the 7th Day of Lunar 7 Month, Qi Niang and Dong Yong were meet-up and during the meeting up, Dong Yong would carried his Two Children along.

 

Due to the Motherly-love that Qi Niang showed for her Children, in Folks Customs, on this Day, Grandparents or Parents were request blessing for the young children. And during the honoring, names and age of the Children were being reported to Qi Niang for her looking-care.

 

8 comments:

  1. I have always regarded this as the Chinese 情人节!

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  2. Yup, for Chinese, we have 3 情人节, 15 of Lunar 1 Month, 7 of Lunar 7 Month and 15 of Lunar 8 Month.

    So for us, we can celebrate more times with our "darling(s).. :P"

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  3. sifu..it means the 七星娘娘 is the seventh Maiden of the seven sisters????coz..i confuse...if not..it should have seven immortal of 七星娘娘..rite???

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  4. Usually in Folks Culture, seldom ppl will honour the 7 of them, only the 7th Maiden is being honour by the folks.

    七星娘娘 is only a statue to represent the 7th Maiden and not all of them.

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  5. sifu..in Malaysia..there is one temple..dedicated to seven Maiden...even got medium trance oso...

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  6. sifu..is there any bao gao for 七星娘娘 ?please enlighten me..thanks..

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  7. No, cos of the low-ranking position.

    ReplyDelete

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