Qixi Festival (七夕) | A Bridge Across the Stars

On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, people across China celebrate Qixi Festival (七夕), a festival shaped by one of the country's best-loved legends: the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

Separated by the vast Milky Way, the two lovers are allowed to meet only once a year. On this night, according to legend, thousands of magpies spread their wings to form a bridge across the stars, allowing the couple to cross the distance between them and be reunited.

It is a story of love and longing, separation and reunion. But perhaps its most enduring image is simply that of a bridge.

A Festival of Love, with a Much Longer Story

Today, Qixi is sometimes described as the "Chinese Valentine's Day", but its traditions reach much further back.

Historically, Qixi was closely associated with the Weaver Girl, or Zhinü (织女), who represented skill in weaving and needlework. Young women would traditionally gather on the evening of Qixi to demonstrate their skills, make wishes and pray for wisdom, dexterity and happiness. This gave rise to another traditional name for the festival, Qiqiao Festival (乞巧节) — the Festival of Pleading for Skills.

Over generations, customs have changed, while the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has become increasingly central to the way Qixi is remembered and celebrated.

Yet behind both traditions lies something universal: the human desire for a fulfilling life, for companionship and for connection.

The Bridge Between Two Worlds

For The Mothers' Bridge of Love, the image at the heart of the Qixi story has a particular resonance.

Our name, too, carries a bridge.

In real life, the distances between people do not always look like the Milky Way. They may be oceans and national borders. They may be differences in language and culture, years of separation, unanswered questions about the past, or experiences that are difficult for another person fully to understand.

For adoptees exploring their origins, families searching for loved ones, and people living between different cultures and identities, those distances can sometimes feel immense.

And yet bridges can be built.

Sometimes a bridge begins with a piece of information shared by a stranger. Sometimes it is a conversation between people from different backgrounds. Sometimes it takes the form of a volunteer giving their time, a family opening its heart, or someone simply being willing to listen to another person's story.

Each gesture may seem small. Together, they can make a distance feel a little less impossible to cross.

Love Has Many Forms

Qixi is celebrated as a festival of romantic love, but it can also invite us to think about love in its many other forms.

There is the love between parents and children, the bonds between siblings, the affection that sustains friendships and communities, and the compassion that inspires one person to help another whom they may never have met before.

There is also the love expressed through remembering and searching.

For some of the families and adoptees whose journeys MBL has encountered over the years, love has travelled across extraordinary distances and through many years. Some searches have ended in joyful reunions; others continue. Each carries its own history, emotions and complexities.

Not every journey has a simple ending. But every person deserves the opportunity to understand their story, to have their questions heard and, where possible, to make meaningful connections on their own terms.

Building Bridges, One Connection at a Time

In the Qixi legend, the magpies come together, one by one, to create a path across the Milky Way.

Perhaps there is something beautiful in that image for our world today.

A bridge does not have to be built through one extraordinary act. It can be created through countless smaller ones: listening, sharing, translating, remembering, reaching out and choosing to understand.

Through our work with families, adoptees, children and communities, as well as through cultural exchange, education and dialogue, MBL continues to create opportunities for those small connections to happen.

Because bridges are not only about bringing two sides together. They also allow us to see the world from the other side.

May Every Journey Bring Us Closer

On this Qixi Festival, we celebrate love — but also the courage to reach across distance.

We think of those who have found one another, those who are still searching, those separated from people they love, and those learning to understand the different cultures and stories that have shaped who they are.

May those who are together cherish their time with one another.

May those who are searching continue to find hope.

May those separated by distance feel a little closer.

And may there always be people willing to help build the bridge.

Happy Qixi Festival. 七夕快乐！

May every bridge we build bring people, families and cultures a little closer together.