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Qixi Festival (Chinese: 七夕节; literally "The Night of Sevens"), also known as Magpie Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar; thus its name. It inspired Tanabata (七夕) in Japan, Chilseok (칠석) in Korea, and Thất Tịch in Vietnam. It has sometimes been called Chinese Valentine's Day (Chinese: 情人節; pinyin: Qíng rén jié) since the late 1990s, which is, strictly speaking, an inaccurate portrait of the festival.
(... from Wikipedia on 2012-04-17 08:17:18)
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Nāg Panchamī (Devanagari: नाग पंचमी) is a festival during which religious Hindus in some parts of India worship either images of or live Nāgas (cobras) on the fifth day after Amavasya of the month of Shraavana. Traditionally, married young women visit their premarital households to celebrate the festival. Especially in villages in India, a traditional aspect of the celebration involves joyous swinging by young women on swings temporarily hung on tree branches.
According to Puranic scriptures, Brahma’s son Kashyapa had four wives. The “first” wife gave birth to Devas; the second, to Garudas; the third --named Kadroo--, to Nāgas; and the fourth, to Daityas. Nāgas were the rulers of Pātāl-Loka.
(... from Wikipedia on 2012-04-18 00:07:30)
(Arabic: عيد وفاء النيل) has been an important natal cycle in Egypt since ancient times. It is celebrated by Egyptians as an annual holiday for two weeks starting August 15, known as Wafaa El-Nil. It is also celebrated in the Coptic Church by ceremonially throwing a martyr's relic into the river, hence the name, Esba` al-shahīd ('The Martyr's Finger'). Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile flooded every year because of Isis's tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris.
The three stages of the Egyptian flood cycle were Akhet, the time of the Nile flood, Peret, the sowing time, and Shemu, the time of harvest. Without this cycle people would die from starvation.The flood cycle was so predictable that the Egyptians even based their ancient calendar on it. Akhet was the first season of the year, between the months of June and September. Peret or the Egyptian Autumn season marked the time when their crops grew in the fields and were harvested,[1] running from October to mid-February. Shemu was the third and last season of the Egyptian year which ran from mid-February until the end of May; it essentially signalled the spring season of the Egyptian calendar.[2]
(... from Wikipedia on 2012-04-17 22:53:29)