Vandaag vieren de Chinezen het jaarlijkse Qixi festival. Waarin ondermeer de ontmoeting tussen het weefmeisje en de veeherder, een verhaal uit de Chinese mythologie, wordt herdacht. Dat telkens op de zevende dag van de zevende lunatie (of synodische maand) valt. Waar ook naar verwezen wordt als het festival van de dubbele zeven, de Chinese Valentijns dag of het ekster festival.

De reden voor deze alternatieve namen komt uit een legende over Zhinü (het weefmeisje, voorgesteld door Vega) en Niulang (de veeherder, voorgesteld door Altair). Een verhaal dat reeds 2 600 jaar lang bestaat en doormiddel van gedichten werd verteld. Het inspireerde tevens het Tanabata festival in Japan en het Chilseok festival in Korea.

"A young cowherd, hence Niulang came across a beautiful girl--Zhinü, the seventh daughter of the Goddess, who had just escaped from boring heaven to look for fun. Zhinü soon fell in love with Niulang, and they got married without the knowledge of the Goddess. Zhinü proved to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang to be a good husband. They lived happily and had two children.

But the Goddess of Heaven (or in some versions, Zhinü's mother) found out that Zhinü, a fairy girl, had married a mere mortal. The Goddess was furious and ordered Zhinü to return to heaven. (Alternatively, the Goddess forced the fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds, a task she neglected while living on earth with a mortal.)

On Earth, Niulang was very upset that his wife had disappeared. Suddenly, his ox began to talk, telling him that if he killed it and put on its hide, he would be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife. Crying bitterly, he killed the ox, put on the skin, and carried his two beloved children off to Heaven to find Zhinü.

The Goddess discovered this and was very angry. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way between Altair and Vega. Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar while taking care of their two children.

But once a year all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the seventh night of the seventh moon." -Wikipedia-