There was another completely different version for his story. It was said that although he had enormous knowledge, he repeatedly failed in exams. So, finally he drowned himself in a river. Fortunately, he was saved by a turtle, then ascended into heaven to be Kuixing star. As he could control the examination fate of scholars, so every year on July 7, scholars would worship him solemnly.
Sun Books and Sun Clothes
It is said that in the period of Three Kingdoms, Simayi was suspected by Caocao, the great conqueror of north China. Considering the malicious political conditions, in order to protect himself, Simayi pretended to be mad at home. Even though, Caocao was not much assured of Simayi’s madness, then he dispatched an intimate follower to observe Simayi. On July 7, the mad-assumed Simayi sunned his books like others. So the scout immediately reported this fact back to Caocao, when the great conqueror dictated that Simayi should come to the imperial court to resume his post or he would be jailed. Helplessly, Simayi had to follow the order and returned back to the court. However, there was another sort of people in troubled times, who released their melancholy by behaving irrationally, such as scorning the prevailing rites and rules, and opposing the current customs. In volume 25 of Shi Shuo Xin Yu (essays and criticism), Liu Yiqing records that on July 7 every one sunned books, while Haolong lay under the sun. People felt surprised and asked why he was doing like that. He replied, “I’m sunning my books.” His behavior, on one hand was to scorn the custom of sunning books, while on the other hand was to show off his knowledge containing his body. He implied his belly was full of books. The custom to sun clothes in Han dynasty developed into an opportunity to display properties in Wei and Jin dynasties. Ruanxian, one member of the so-called seven sages in bamboo grove, felt scornful at this custom. On July 7, when his neighbors were airing their clothes, he saw all of them were made of silk and satin, very splendid and shiny. Now, Yuanxian, the sage slowly raised one of his shabby coats with a bamboo stick. Then, someone asked what he was doing. He replied, “Oh, I can not exempt myself from customs, just imitating what others are doing.” From the above several stories, we can know how popular the customs of sunning books and clothes on Qixi Festival were in the ancient.
Celebrating the Bull’s Birthday
On Qixi Festival, children would pick up flowers and hang them on the horns of the bulls, calling to celebrate the bull’s birthday. It is said that July 7 is the birthday of bulls.
Eat Dexterity Snacks
Among the seasonal fruits of Qixi Festival, the most famous is dexterity snack. It is also called dexterity seeking snack, with numerous forms. The main stuff of it are oil, flour, sugar, and honey. In Dream Records of East Capital, it is called Xiaoyaner and assorted snack with patterns of Naixiang and Fangsheng. In Song dynasty, Dexterity snacks have appeared on markets for Qixi Festival.
If one bought some dexterity snacks, there would be a pair of puppets with armors like door gods, calling snack generals. The making of dexterity snack is: First, put white sugar into a pot to be melted into syrup. Then add wheat flour, sesame, and mix it up evenly. Next, place it on a wooden board to press it thin and flat. After it cools down, cut it into rectangular parts or diamond shapes. Fry the cuttings in hot oil until golden brown. Dexterous cooking women could make it into different patterns relevant with Qixi legends. Besides, the fruits used in dexterity seeking ceremonies would have various forms. People can carve them into precious flowers and birds, or produce relieved patterns on the fruit skins, calling floral fruits.
Dexterity snacks and floral fruits are the most popular foods in Qixi Festival, but they bore different names in different dynasties in history. For example, in Wei dynasty people used to make boiled cakes, while in Tang dynasty the festival foods include cut cakes. In Tang dynasty, July 7 was stipulated as Book Sunning Festival. In each ministry, officials were given a certain amount of cash for ceremonies, calling book sunning fair. July 7 is also appropriate for making herbal medicine. It is said there was a secret therapy with pine and cypress, which was in the form of pills mixed up by dew on July 7. If one person takes on pill, he could prolong his life span by ten years; if he takes two pills, he would extend his life by twenty years. In addition, there are other medicine, such as eating pine nuts, cypress seeds, and lotus leaves, they are all called immortal medicines. The practical therapies are sunned locust tree juice for curing hemorrhoid, simmered bitter gourd for eye diseases, and picked melon stem for diarrhea, etc. However, when it comes to the efficacy, only those who have tried can tell.
(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)
