THE STORY OF TWO LOVES SEPARATED BY MONTHS APART

 

The love story in the Chinese folklore of the celestial bodies Altair and Vega that bore Qixi and Tanabata Festival transcends that of Valentines. However, the Mystery of who St. Valentines is, and the exact origins of Valentines Day has made February 14^th, the lovers’ day. Between valentines-celebrating the martyr or whatever tradtions and the Qixi, celebrated in the seventh months, which qualifies to be the most appropriate lovers’ day?    

 Many couples and those in relationships are looking forward to the revelries that come in the middle of February this year. While some will some hundreds and thousands of dollars, others will choose to be modest with candle lit dinners at home, candy and flowers. Whichever way you choose to enjoy the mid-month festival, have you ever wondered why the festival comes in the month of February.

Well, there is a number of myths that explain the festival that to some has a pagan origin and to others the Christian origins. According to the History website (history.com) some people believe that the day marks the martyr of St. Valentines which may have occurred around AD 270. Still, this does not exactly point out to which Valentines. “The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred,” the History website contends. A legend has it that Valentines was a priest who secretly joined young couples in holy matrimony against the decree of Emperor Claudius II who believed that unmarried soldiers fought better than those in marriage. Therefore, when Valentines was caught, the emperor decreed a death penalty hence the love story was born. In another legend, Valentines was a priest who tried to help Christians escape the harsh Roman prisons where they were tortured. Actually, Valentines was among the inmates in such cells, and he may have written note to his ‘Valentines’ – a girl he may have fallen in love with- probably the jailor’s daughter- when she visited him in jail. Both legends point to the ultimate sacrifice for love of fellow humans.

There is also another school of thought- the school that told you that Easter and Christmas holidays were Pagan festivals. According to this School, Valentines was misappropriated from the pagan religion’s festival of Lupercalia. Lupercalia, according to legend, was a festival in memory of Lupa the she-wolf who nursed the founders of Rome- Remus and Romulus. “The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification,” says the History website. “They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide.” The ritual was perceived to promote fertility in human, animals and crops. This was a time when men believed to be the bearers of the seed that would grow into a child in the mother’s womb. Science disapproved this by bringing about the concept of fusion of the male and female gametes. As it were, lupercalia was a festival of fertility and purification followed by matchmaking lottery where men would pick names of women from an urn. The woman they picked would spend time with the man during the festival and if the match was right, for the rest of their life.

The martyr and the festival of lupercalia work out to be the perfect ingredients for February as a love month, do they? The oriental legend disagrees with this through the love story of Altair and Vega. There are various angles to this love story that supercedes Romeo and Juliet. Some legend says that Altair was an orphan, who’s only inheritance was a bull. One Sunday afternoon, Altair sat down under an oak tree and practiced an old love melody on his flute. This attracted a white dove that transformed into the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her name was Vega. Altair and Vega became lovers. As their love grew, Mother Lady of the Sky got suspicious of Vega and sent a spy to investigate. The Spy’s findings infuriated Mother Lady of the Sky who descended took Vega and separated the two lovers with the Celestial river of the Milky Way. In another legend, Altair was a cowherd and Vega a seamstress for the gods. Vega loved listening to the birds sing and she would give them water and bread crumbs just for them to be by her side. Similarly, Altair loved the music of the birds. He would split the food of the cows and spare some for the birds just to attract them to his side. One day, Altair saw Vega at the river bathing, her voluptuous body, bright eyes and long graceful neck enchanted this cowherd. They fell in love. Vega had a secret; she was an illegitimate daughter of the King of the Sky. To save her life, the king had entered into a pact that she would become a seamstress for the gods. Though her love for Altair did not get into her duties, she would take longer than usual to finish clothes ordered by the gods. The gods got angry and tried in Vain to separate the two lovers, but the charm of their love was stronger than any the gods would fashion. To stop this union forever, the gods built glass boxes and placed the two lovers opposite the celestial river of the Milky Way.

However, on the seventh day, of the seventh month Vega cries so hard that all the magpies of the world fly to the sky. They form a bridge across the river so that Altair and Vega could have one night of passion. This festival is celebrated as Tanabata on 7^th July in Japan and Qixi on 7^th August (according to our calendar) in China

Now this is the perfect love story. Forget the martyrs and the fertility whips, this is the glory of love, the triumph of those in love crossing the oceans, merging with nature.