Growing flowers is the most reliable companionship - are you tired of hearing love legends?

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Against My Will

 Tsunami

Harlem Yu 

00:00/04:33

When it comes to Qixi, the first thing that comes to mind is Qin Guan's poem "Magpie Bridge Immortal - Fine Clouds Craft"

Fine clouds craft their skill, flying stars convey their grief, the Silver River spans far as they secretly cross. When the golden wind and jade dew meet but once, it surpasses countless meetings in the mortal world.

Tenderness like water, the happy hour like a dream, how could one bear to look back on the magpie bridge homeward path. If love between two hearts endures forever, how could it depend on being together morning and night.

The line "When the golden wind and jade dew meet but once, it surpasses countless meetings in the mortal world" has filled countless people with longing for beautiful love.

In ancient times, there were many interesting stories and customs related to plants on Qixi day.

One, the interesting story of the orchid

The orchid is one of China's traditional famous flowers, and together with "plum, bamboo and chrysanthemum" it is collectively known as the "Four Gentlemen." The orchid is neutral in nature, with a clear fragrance, and has the effects of nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, and clearing heat and detoxifying.

Because of the orchid's noble character, the ancients had an inexplicable preference for it, and many varieties of orchids also bloom in July, so the ancients also called Qixi "Orchid Night." Unmarried women would make sachets from orchids on that day, and if they took a fancy to a man they liked, they would give it to him.

Two, the interesting story of planting beans to pray for children

Planting beans to pray for children was a Qixi custom. "Planting life" actually meant soaking mung beans, wheat and the like in a porcelain bowl, waiting for them to grow sprouts about an inch long, then tying them into a bundle with red and blue silk threads, hence it was also called the "Five Life Pot" or "Life Flower Pot," symbolizing many children and abundant blessings.

Mung beans, small beans and wheat were placed in porcelain vessels, soaked in water, and when the sprouts grew several inches, they were tied with red and blue colored ribbons.

In the ten days before Qixi each year, mung beans or peas were soaked in water, with the water changed every one to two days, and when the sprouts grew to about five or six inches, they were placed in a small pot, called a "life flower pot," and could also be used as zu (pickled vegetables).

That is, on Qixi, potted plants of mung beans or peas were grown, which could be used for viewing and also for cooking.

Three, the interesting story of dyeing nails with garden balsam

It was nothing new for women in ancient times to dye their nails with garden balsam. One can imagine that on a summer night, accompanied by twinkling stars in the sky, young girls would sit idly in the courtyard, mash red garden balsam petals in a porcelain bowl, then wrap them well with a wet cloth or grass leaves and apply them to their nails, and before long the nails would be dyed a bright red.

On dyeing nails, Qin Rongguang, a native of the county in the late Qing Dynasty, once said: "Melons and fruits are laid out in the courtyard as on Qixi, a daughter's work is threading a needle under the moon. How pitiful the slender fingers with long curved nails, dyed with balsam juice the color of scarlet blood."

The Qixi custom in the southwestern region of China, in Sichuan Province as well as in Guizhou and Guangdong, had this practice. For example, the "Yanting County Annals" of the Mianyang area in Sichuan once recorded: "The seventh day of the seventh month is the Begging for Skills Festival. Children dye their nails with garden balsam."

Garden balsam is a common ornamental flower in our country, with large flowers and green leaves, graceful and elegant, very delightful. Its stems and seeds are used as medicine, with the effects of dispelling rheumatism, invigorating blood and relieving pain.

Four, the interesting story of picking cypress leaves

Cypress leaves are the leaves of the oriental arborvitae. Cypress leaves have many benefits: stopping bleeding and boosting qi, dispelling wind and regulating dampness, and strengthening the body's ability to resist cold and heat. On Qixi, most women picked cypress leaves and peach branches to boil in water for washing hair, which could make hair black, glossy and firm. Because the summer weather is dry and washed items dry easily, washing hair with it would make it fresh and smooth, without dirt or greasiness.

In ancient folk tradition there was such a hair-washing folk remedy: one sheng of raw cypress leaf powder, one jin of lard, mixed into pills the size of pellets; when washing hair, wrap one pill in cloth, place it in sugar water, and after the pill dissolves use it to wash the hair; after one month, the hair would become black and glossy.

Five, the interesting story of rubbing rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon, also called cotton rose. Its flowers, fruits and leaves all have medicinal value, and can stop bloody dysentery, treat intestinal wind, and cool wind and relieve heat.

On Qixi day, women in Dinghai, Kaihua, Huzhou and other places in Zhejiang would rub rose of Sharon leaves, filter and take the juice, and use it to wash their hair, because rose of Sharon has good cleansing ability and after washing leaves a faint floral fragrance.

Six, the interesting story of the shepherd boy picking flowers

The ancients believed that osmanthus was the chief of a hundred medicines, so wine brewed with osmanthus could achieve the effect of "drinking it brings a lifespan of a thousand years." For instance, in the Han Dynasty, osmanthus wine was a fine product used by people to worship gods and ancestors.

In Yucheng County, Shandong, on the seventh day of the seventh month, shepherd boys picked wild flowers and inserted them on the ox's horns, called "celebrating the ox's birthday." In Yongping, Zhili, this day was regarded as the ox's life day, with osmanthus hung on the ox's horns and wheat cakes rewarded to the shepherd boys. This was done only to express a kind of sympathy for the Cowherd.

Plants for showing affection on Qixi

In the name of love - Rosary Vine

Rosary Vine, also known by other names such as Wax Flower and Hearts Entwined, is a plant of the genus Ceropegia in the Apocynaceae family.

The opposite heart-shaped leaves of Rosary Vine are often regarded as a symbol of love.

Strings of hearts for you alone - String of Hearts

The leaves of String of Hearts are also heart-shaped, and indeed a long string of hearts. If you are clever with your hands, you can even tie its vines into a heart shape...

String of Hearts, also known as Thousand Hearts, is also a plant of the Apocynaceae family, named because its vines are densely covered with many heart-shaped leaves.

Love's pouch - Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart is named because its flowers droop and are shaped like a pouch, its leaf shape is somewhat like a peony, and its flowering period is also the same as that of the peony. It also has other names such as Fish Peony and Bell Grass, and its English common name Bleeding Heart is also very vivid.

Bleeding Heart belongs to the genus Lamprocapnos in the Papaveraceae family, and is native to northern China, Japan and Siberia. Its flower shape is exquisite and lovely, its flower colors are bright and varied, including white, pink, red and many others, and its leaf clusters are well-arranged and beautiful. Its rows of flowers dangling from the branches are like brightly colored pouches, and also like exquisite little bells swaying in the wind, delicate and charming.

Regarding Bleeding Heart, there are many love stories that use it as their subject. There is a folk saying that when a woman responds to the pursuit of a man who admires her, she will give him a bouquet of Bleeding Heart.

Giving you a fiery red heart - Anthurium

Anthurium has a unique appearance and an elegant, brilliant red that is unforgettable at a glance.

The fiery red, broad "petal" of the Anthurium is actually not a real petal; it is merely a modified leaf, which in academic circles is called a "spathe."

Native festival, native flower - Primrose

A Song Dynasty poem says, "Tender yellow and old green have been so for a long time,