Chinese Valentine Day (中國情人節: 七夕)
Chinese Valentine’s Day falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month on the Chinese calendar. People often wonder why it is on the 7th day of the 7th month. There is a story behind the date...
According to the Chinese legend, a boy named "Niu Lang" (牛郎; literally “the cowherd”) lived with his brother and sister-in-law after his parents died. His sister-in-law did not welcome him and tried to get rid of Niu Lang by giving him a mission-impossible task. She asked Niu Lang to take care of the cows and bring ten cows back to the town when there were only nine cows in the herd. Niu Lang realized that his sister-in-law was giving him trouble and he knew if he didn’t come back with ten cows, he would be kicked out of the house. While he was dismayed at the problem, a spiritual being came to him and hinted that he could find a sick old ox lying in the Funiu Mountain. After days of taking good care of the sick animal, the ox was well and they became good friends. The ox revealed a secret that he used to be a goddess (the star Taurus.)
The ox showed his gratitude by matching Niu Lang with one of seven fairy sisters who came down from heaven. One day, the seven fairies were bathing in a lake and the ox instructed Niu Lang to take away one of their clothes which belonged to the youngest sister "Zhi Nü" (織女; literally “the weaver girl”.) While Zhi Nü went to retrieve her clothing, she fell in love with the young cowherd and then married to Niu Lang. She stayed on the earth and had two children, a boy and a girl. However, their marriage was disapproved by her mother Goddess. Zhi Nü was taken back to heaven. The old ox asked Niu Lang to use his skin to make shoes after he died. The shoes miraculously fly across the sky and brought Niu Lang and the two children to heaven to meet Zhi Nü. The mother Goddess found out and angrily took out her hairpin to scratch a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers. The poor couple could only watch each other far away from each side of the river. Years passed, the mother Goddess finally agreed to let the couple to meet once a year, the magpies took pity on them and flew up into heaven to form a bridge across the river for them to meet. The bridge that magpies formed was called “Que Qiao” (鵲橋 , "the bridge of magpies".) Later, Niu Lang became the star Altair separated from Zhi Nü who became the star Vega by the Milky Way, the big river in the constellation. Every year, on the 7th night of the 7th moon, all the magpies will fly up to form the bridge so the two lovers could be together.
中國情人節: 七夕
傳說在很久很久以前，南陽城西的牛家莊有一個叫牛郎的孤兒，隨哥哥嫂子生活，嫂子對他不好，給了他九頭牛卻讓他領十頭回來，否則永遠不要回去。沮喪之時他得到高人指點，在伏牛山發現了一頭生病的老黃牛，他悉心照料，才得知老牛原來是天上的金牛星被打下凡間，牛郎成功將其領回家。
後來在老牛的指點下，牛郎找到了下凡仙女們洗澡遊玩的地方，拿起了其中一個的衣服，那個仙女名字叫織女，兩人相識，遁入愛河，後生育有龍鳳胎。但由於觸犯天規，織女被帶回天界。老牛告訴牛郎，它死之後把皮做成鞋出岸上就可以騰雲駕霧。後來牛郎終於上了天界，眼看就要和織女團聚，被王母娘娘頭上銀簪所變的銀河攔住去路。天上的喜鵲被他們的愛情感動了，化作「鵲橋」，牛郎織女終於團聚。王母娘娘有些動容，後命每年農曆七月初七，兩人才可在鵲橋相會。之後，每年七夕牛郎就把兩個小孩放在扁擔中，上天與織女團聚，成為佳話。
我們要感謝的老師們。Teachers who made this program happen
導演 – 校長 楊淑萍Director - Nora Yang (Principal)
劇本 - 一班老師 陳言宜
Story lines - Ms.Yen-Yi Chen (Class 1 teacher)
紙偶製作 - 美術老師 劉千瑋
Characters - Ms. Chien-Wei Liu (Art and Craft teacher)
星星介紹 - 國際小班老師 蔣璐
Star presentation - Ms. Lu Jiang (Class C1 teacher)
聲效與螢幕 - 六班老師 吳曉惠
結婚進行曲 - 六班同學 劉辰北
Sounds and Stage - Hsiao-Hui Wu (Class 6 teacher)
Wedding music - Pennie Liu
演員 Cast
牛郎 : 二班老師 黃育德Niu Lang : Mr. Yu-De Huang (Class 2 teacher)
織女 : 四班老師 鄭又嘉
Zhi Nü : Ms. Yuka Cheng (Class 4 teacher)
老黃牛,仙女,寶寶 : 小小班老師 周雪棻
Ox & Fairies : Ms. Shiun-Fen Chou (Class Prek1 teacher)
王母娘娘,星星,喜鵲 : 國際成人班老師 劉群
Grandmother, Stars, Birds : Ms. Tracie Liu (Class A1 teacher)
Download Files:
STLCA Chinese Valentine Shadow Puppet Show (皮影戲 - 牛郎織女) Story Line
Chinese Valentine's presentation (powerpoint)
Press release article