"The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" are characters found in
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions.
Much of t ...
and characters appearing eponymously in a romantic
Chinese folk tale. The story tells of the romance between
Zhinü (; the
weaver girl, symbolizing the star
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...
) and
Niulang
Niulang is a Chinese deity who is identified as the star Altair in the constellation Aquila (constellation), Aquila. He was a legendary figure and main character in the popular Chinese folk tale ''The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl''. The earliest ...
(; the
cowherd, symbolizing the star
Altair
Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql ...
).
Their love was not allowed, and thus they were banished to opposite sides of the
heavenly river (symbolizing the
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
).
[ Once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh ]lunar month
In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month.
Variations
In Shona, Middle Eastern, and Eur ...
, a flock of magpie
Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...
s would form a bridge to reunite the lovers for a single day. Though there are many variations of the story,[ the earliest-known reference to this famous myth dates back to a poem from the ]Classic of Poetry
The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, c ...
from over 2600 years ago.
"The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" originated from people’s worship of natural celestial phenomena, and later developed into the Qixi Festival
The Qixi Festival ( zh, 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival ( zh, 七巧, links=no), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is cele ...
since the Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
. It has also been celebrated as the Tanabata
, also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り, ''Hoshimatsuri''), is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair re ...
festival in Japan and the Chilseok
Chilseok is a Korean traditional festival which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Korean lunisolar calendar, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. Chilseok is a period where the heat starts to dwindle and the Wet season ...
festival in Korea. In ancient times, women would make wishes to the stars of Vega and Altair in the sky during the festival, hoping to have a wise mind, dexterous hand (in embroidery and other household tasks), and a good marriage.
The story was selected as one of China's Four Great Folktales by the "Folklore Movement" in the 1920s—the others being the Legend of the White Snake
The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend. It has since been presented in a number of major Chinese operas, films, and television series.
The earliest attempt to fictionalize the story in printed form appears to be ''The White Maiden ...
, Lady Meng Jiang
Lady Meng Jiang or Meng Jiang Nü () is a Chinese tale with many variations. Later versions are set in the Qin dynasty, when Lady Meng Jiang's husband was pressed into service by imperial officials and sent as corvee labor to build the Great Wa ...
, and Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai
The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers, Liang Shanbo () and Zhu Yingtai (), whose names form the title of the story. The title is often abbreviated to Liang Zhu ().
The story was selected as one o ...
—but Idema (2012) also notes that this term neglects the variations and therefore diversity of the tales, as only a single version was taken as the true version.
The Cowherd and Weaver Girl and the two main characters of the story is popular in various parts of Asia, and elsewhere, with differing variations. Some historical and cross cultural similarities to other stories have also been observed. The story is referenced in various literary and popular culture sources.
Literature
The tale has been alluded to in many literary works. One of the most famous was the poem by Qin Guan
Qin Guan (; 1049 – c. 1100) was a Chinese poet of the Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Shaoyou (). Taixu was also his courtesy name. His pseudonym was Huaihai Jushi () and Hangou Jushi (). He was honored as one of the "Four Scholars of Sumen ...
(1049–1100) during the Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
:
Du Fu (712–770) of the Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
wrote a poem about the heavenly river:
Influence and variations
The story is popular in other parts of Asia, with variations in different locations. In Southeast Asia, the story has been conflated into a Jataka tale detailing the story of Manohara
Manohara is the kinnari (half woman, half bird) heroine of one of the Jataka tales. Typically referred to as Manohara and Prince Sudhana, the legend appears in the Divyavadana and is documented by stone reliefs at Borobodur.
This story features i ...
, the youngest of seven daughters of the Kinnara
A kinnara is a celestial musician, part human and part bird, who are musically paradigmatic lovers, in Hinduism and Buddhism. In these traditions, the ''kinnaras'' (male) and ''kinnaris'' (female counterpart) are two of the most beloved mytho ...
King who lives on Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It h ...
and falls in love with Prince Sudhana.
In Korea, the story focuses on Jingnyeo, a weaver girl who falls in love with Gyeonu, a herder. In Japan, the story revolves around the romance between the deities, Orihime and Hikoboshi. In Vietnam, the story is known as '' Ngưu Lang Chức Nữ'' and revolves around the story of Chức Nữ, the weaver, and Ngưu Lang, the herder of buffalos. The Vietnamese version is also titled ''The Weaver Fairy and the Buffalo Boy''.
Chinese folklorist and scholar classified the versions of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl under the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index
The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index) is a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU Index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: originally composed in German by ...
ATU 400, "The Quest for the Lost Wife". The tale also holds similarities with widespread tales of the swan maiden (bird maiden or bird princess). There are also distinct similarities to the Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
n tale of Dumuzid
Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
and Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, Divine law, divine justice, and political p ...
.
Cultural references
* Reference to the story was made by Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...
in his book ''Contact
Contact may refer to:
Interaction Physical interaction
* Contact (geology), a common geological feature
* Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye
* Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects
* ...
''.
* The story, as well as the puppetry shown, was told by Meiying to Dre Parker during the Qi Xi Festival
The Qixi Festival ( zh, 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival ( zh, 七巧, links=no), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of th ...
in the film '' The Karate Kid''.
* The tale and the Tanabata
, also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り, ''Hoshimatsuri''), is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair re ...
festival are also the basis of the '' Sailor Moon'' side story entitled ''Chibiusa's Picture Diary-Beware the Tanabata!,'' where both Vega and Altair make an appearance.
* The post-hardcore band La Dispute :''This is for the Marivaux play, for the band, see La Dispute (band).''
''La Dispute'' is a prose comedy written by Pierre de Marivaux, shown for the first time on 19 October 1744 by the Théâtre-Italien in the Hôtel de Bourgogne. The story i ...
named and partially based their first album, ''Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair
''Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair'' is the debut studio album by American post-hardcore band La Dispute. Supported by three release shows, it was released on November 11, 2008, alongside '' Here, Hear II.'' through ...
'', after the tale.
* The JRPG '' Bravely Second: End Layer'' also uses the names Vega and Altair for a pair of story-important characters who shared a love interest in each other years before the game's story began, Deneb being their common friend.
* The K-pop
K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...
girl group Red Velvet's song "One of These Nights
''One of These Nights'' is the fourth studio album by the Eagles, released in 1975. In July that year, the record became the Eagles' first number one album on ''Billboard''s album chart, yielding three Top 10 singles: " One of These Nights", "Lyi ...
" from their 2016 EP ''The Velvet
''The Velvet'' is the second Korean extended play by South Korean girl group Red Velvet. Released on March 17, 2016, by SM Entertainment and distributed by Dreamus, the extended play is the spiritual successor of their first full-length album '' ...
'' also references the legend of the two lovers.
* J-pop
J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...
band Supercell
A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (s ...
also references the story on its song " Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari".
* The novel ''Bridge of Birds'' by Barry Hughart
Barry Hughart (March 13, 1934 – August 1, 2019) was an American author of fantasy novels.
Background
Hughart was born in Peoria, Illinois on March 13, 1934. His father, John Harding Page, served as a naval officer. His mother, Veronica ...
is centered around the tale, but incorporates many more Chinese folk stories while retelling the tale.
* K-pop girl group Dreamcatcher
In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher ( oj, asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider') is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as ...
's song "July 7th" from their EP '' Alone in the City'', is based on this tale.
* The South Korean television series ''Vincenzo
Vincenzo is an Italian male given name, derived from the Latin name Vincentius (the verb ''vincere'' means to win or to conquer). Notable people with the name include:
Art
* Vincenzo Amato (born 1966), Italian actor and sculptor
*Vincenzo Bell ...
'' features a reference to the legend of the lovers, in which Vincenzo mixes up the names from the Korean tale.
* In The Big Bang Theory
''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on C ...
, S07E19 "The Indecision Amalgamation", Raj references the story to Penny as a romantic folk tale.
*The K-pop
K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...
boy group Treasure
Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions le ...
's song "B.L.T", the b-side track from their second single album '' The First Step: Chapter Two'' is also based on this story.
*The J-rock group Alice Nine
is a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in Tokyo in 2004. They were a part of PS Company until 2014. The band had King Records as its record label until 2010, when they joined Tokuma Japan. Then, in 2013, the band joined Universal Music Grou ...
's song "Heisei Jyuushichinen Shichigatsu Nanoka" from their 2005 EP " ''Alice in Wonderland''" is based on this story.
Similar to the Chang'e space program being named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, the ''Queqiao'' relay satellite of Chang'e 4
Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission, part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. China achieved humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, on 3 January 2019.
A communication relay satellit ...
is named after the "bridge of magpies" from the Chinese tale of the cowherd and weaver girl.[ ] The Chang'e 4 landing site is known as Statio Tianhe, which refers to the heavenly river in the tale.[ ] The nearby far-side lunar craters Zhinyu and Hegu are named after Chinese constellations associated with the weaver girl and the cowherd.
In Japan, the Engineering Test Satellite VII mission was an automated rendezvous and docking test of two satellites nicknamed "Orihime" and "Hikoboshi."
Gallery
File:The Weaver Girl, by Zhang Ling.jpg, Zhinü with a shuttle in her hand, painted by Zhang Ling, Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
File:Famous Women, 1799 (H).jpg, Zhinü crossing the River of Heaven, as painted by Gai Qi
Gai Qi (; 1774–1829), courtesy name Bowen 伯蕰, art names Qiliang 七郎 and Yuhu Waishi 玉壶外史, was a poet and painter born in western China during the Qing dynasty. As an artist, he was active in Shanghai. His paintings mainly conce ...
, 1799
File:Zhinu, ceiling of Muxuyuan Station, Nanjing metro.jpg, Zhinü as depicted on the ceiling of Muxuyuan Station, Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
.
File:Yoshitoshi - 100 Aspects of the Moon - 40-2.jpg, Zhinü and Niulang, by the Japanese painter Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi ( ja, 月岡 芳年; also named Taiso Yoshitoshi ; 30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892) was a Japanese printmaker. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005)"Tsukoka Kōgyō"in ''Japan Encyclopedia,'' p. 1000.
Yoshitoshi h ...
.
File:Guo Xu album dated 1503 (11).jpg, Depiction of the creation of the River of Heaven (Milky Way), painted by Guo Xu
"Guo", written in Chinese: 郭, is one of the most common Chinese surnames and means "the wall that surrounds a city" in Chinese. It can also be transliterated into English as Cok, Gou, Quo, Quach, Quek, Que, Keh, Kuo, Kwo, Kuoch, Kok, Koc, ...
, Ming dynasty
File:Rendezvous in the Milky Way.jpg, Rendezvous in the Milky Way
See also
* Qixi Festival
The Qixi Festival ( zh, 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival ( zh, 七巧, links=no), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is cele ...
*Tanabata Festival
, also known as the Star Festival ( 星祭り, ''Hoshimatsuri''), is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair res ...
* Chilseok Festival
References
Further reading
* Yu, Eric Kwan-wai. “Of Marriage, Labor and the Small Peasant Family: A Morphological and Feminist Study of the Cowherd and Weaving Maid Folktales.” Comparative Literature and Culture 3 (1998): 11-51.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, The
Buddhist folklore
Chinese folklore
Love stories
Fictional duos
ATU 400-459
Swan maidens