Dear Richard,
Chinese celebrates many festivals in a year. Mostly, there is a beautiful legend behind a festival. Let me introduce you the Chinese Valentine Day, which is on July 7th in every Chinese lunar calendar year. Its name is Qi Qiao Jie (¤C¥©¸`).
Up in the heaven, God hoped to improve the life of human being. He sent two fairies to earth to help. One fairy was a cowherd boy, who would teach men to use cow for farming. Another fairy was a weaving girl, who would teach women to make clothes from threads. The two fairies went to earth separately one after the other. They worked very hard and had good results. God was very please.
One day, the cowherd boy met the weaving girl. They were immediately attracted by each other and quickly became lovers. They loved each other so much that they forgot their mission to earth entirely. The cowherd boy didn't look after cows any more while the weaving girl didn't make clothes any more. God was very upset and angry. He punished the lovers and separated them by the Milky Way. The lovers could only be allowed to meet once on July 7th every year. Birds were moved by their love story. Every year on this day, they flied together forming a bridge across the Milky Way to let the lovers meet.
Richard, if you look up the sky at night, you will find that there are two bright stars, one on each side of the Milky Way. One star is the cowherd boy and the other star is the weaving girl. Every year on July 7th, these two stars will come close together.
With love, Dad