Seven Sisters Festival definition of Seven Sisters Festival in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Seven Sisters Festival

July-August; seventh day of seventh lunar month

The Seven Sisters Festival is a celebration for would-be lovers, observed in China, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It is based on an ancient Chinese legend and is also known as the Maiden's Festival, Double Seventh, Chhit Sek, and Chilseog. In the legend, an orphaned cowherd is forced from his home by his elder brother and sister-in-law, who give him only a broken-down cart, an ox, and a tiny piece of land. The ox, called Elder Brother the Ox, takes pity on the cowherd, and tells him that on a certain day seven girls will visit earth from heaven to bathe in a nearby river. If the young man steals the clothes of any one of the girls, she will marry him.
The cowherd steals the clothes of the Seventh Maiden. They fall in love, marry, and live happily for three years, when she is ordered back to heaven by the gods. When the cowherd dies, he becomes immortal, but the Queen Mother of the Western Heaven keeps the two apart by drawing a line across the sky—the Silver River, or Milky Way. They can cross this only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, on a bridge formed by thousands of magpies.
On the sixth day of the seventh month, unmarried men pay homage to the cowherd, and on the seventh day, young unmarried women make offerings of combs, mirrors, paper flowers, and powder puffs to the Seventh Maiden. The festival is celebrated chiefly at home, but in Hong Kong young women also visit Lover's Rock on Bowen Road on Hong Kong Island to burn joss ('incense') sticks, lay offerings at the rock, and consult soothsayers.
See also Tanabata

CONTACTS:
Hong Kong Tourism Board
115 E. 54th St. 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10022
212-421-3382; fax: 212-421-8428
www.discoverhongkong.com

SOURCES:
BkFest-1937, p. 79
BkHolWrld-1986, Aug 10
DictFolkMyth-1984, p. 216
EncyRel-1987, vol. 3, p. 326
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 452
OxYear-1999, p. 702

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No references found	hka/ AUGUST: August 22 Seven Sisters Festival A celebration for girls and young lovers, this festival has its origin in Chinese folklore dating back more than 1,500 years. Hong Kong Calendar of Events by PR Newswire	Sevastian Tanatar Sevastianov, Vitalii Sevastianov, Vitalii Ivanovich Sevastopol Sevastopol Mutiny of 1905 Sevastopol Uprising of 1830 Sevastopol, Defense of 1854–55 Sevastopol, Defense of 1941–42 Seven Seven against Thebes Seven Brothers Kurgans and Gorodishche Seven Churches in Asia Seven Cities of Cibola Seven Days battles Seven Days' Battles Seven Devils State Recreation Site Seven Dwarfs Seven Hills Seven Lakes State Park seven layer model Seven Liberal Arts Seven Oaks Massacre Seven Pines seven plagues, the Seven Sisters Seven Sisters Festival Seven Sleepers Seven Sleepers of Ephesus Seven That Were Hanged, The Seven Weeks War Seven Weeks' War Seven Wise Men of Greece Seven Wonders of the World Seven Years War Seven Years War of 1756–63 Seven Years War of the North 1563–70 Seven Years' War Seven, Group seven-eighths rule seven-segment display seven-tenths rule seven-thirds rule Seven-Year Industrial Training School Seven-Year School Seveneh seventeen seventeen-year locust Seventeenth Conference of the All-Union Communist Party Bolshevik Seventeenth Congress of the All-Union Communist Party Bolshevik Seventh All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers, Peasants, Red Seventh Bolshevik	Seven of Spades Seven pacer Seven pacer Seven Party Alliance Seven Pines Seven Pines National Cemetery Seven Pines, Virginia seven plagues, the Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center Seven Sages of Greece Seven sciences seven seas seven seas Seven Seas Cruising Association Seven Second Delay Seven Seconds or Less Seven segment display Seven segment display Seven segment display Seven segment indicator Seven segment indicator Seven Segment Sequence Driver Seven Seventeen Credit Union Seven sigma Seven Simple Machines Seven Simple Machines Seven Sins Seven Sisters Seven Sisters (disambiguation) Seven Sisters Festival Seven Sleepers Seven Sleepers Seven Sleepers of Ephesus Seven Sleepers of Ephesus Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, The Seven Soldiers of Victory Seven Star Reaf Seven stars Seven Stars in Paradise Seven Starz Seven Summits Trader Seven That Were Hanged, The Seven tongues of fire Seven tongues of fire Seven tongues of fire Seven Tongues of God Seven Tools Of The Bandit Seven Transmembrane Domain Receptor Seven United Provinces Seven Valleys Health Coalition Seven virtues Seven virtues Seven Weeks War Seven Weeks' War Seven Wise Men of Greece Seven wonders of ancient world Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Seven Wonders of the World

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hka/ AUGUST: August 22 Seven Sisters Festival A celebration for girls and young lovers, this festival has its origin in Chinese folklore dating back more than 1,500 years.

Hong Kong Calendar of Events by PR Newswire

Sevastian Tanatar

Sevastianov, Vitalii

Sevastianov, Vitalii Ivanovich

Sevastopol

Sevastopol Mutiny of 1905

Sevastopol Uprising of 1830

Sevastopol, Defense of 1854–55

Sevastopol, Defense of 1941–42

Seven

Seven against Thebes

Seven Brothers Kurgans and Gorodishche