DOUBLE SEVENTH (JULY 7TH)

This lantern is supposed to be about the Double Seventh Festival, but not really about July 7th.  The festival scheduled on the seventh day of the seventh month is based on the Lunar Calendar.  So in 2012, the Double Seventh Festival falls on August 23rd in the Western calendar.  Is that confusing enough for you?

The Festival is about a love story between Zhinu, a beautiful weavegirl (above) and Niulang, a young cowherd (below).

Just like any foolish young people believing that "love is all they need", Zhinu and Niulang got married without telling (in a traditional way, receiving permission) from Zhinu's mother who is the Goddess.  When the Goddess found out, not only she ordered Zhinu to return to Heaven, but also created a wide river in the sky (the Milky Way) in an attempt to separate the lovers forever.
Feeling sorry for these lovers, the magpies in the world would fly up into Heaven to form a bridge so Zhinu and Niulang could be together for a single night, once a year on the seventh night of the seventh moon.  Well, like they say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", or there is no need to argue who should help the kids with homework and Zhinu never had to pick up dirty socks Ziuland left around the house!