When people think of the Qixi Festival – known in Vietnam as Lễ Thất Tịch – many immediately picture a visit to the pagoda to pray for love, or a sweet bowl of red bean dessert soup (chè đậu đỏ). For young people especially, it is a day to send their hopes for romance out into the world. But why are these activities linked to Thất Tịch? The answer lies in the festival’s origins and its special meaning.
1. What is Thất Tịch, and when is it?
For business owners, Thất Tịch is a very effective marketing moment, because the festival’s main audience is young people who use social media every day and pick up online trends quickly.
However, if you don’t understand what Thất Tịch is and exactly when it falls each year, it is hard to reach that audience. So businesses should get the basics right first.
What is Thất Tịch?
Thất Tịch (Qixi) is a festival that originated in Chinese culture and is tied to the love story of the Cowherd (Ngưu Lang) and the Weaver Girl (Chức Nữ). In China, young women traditionally pray on this day to meet the right person and enjoy a lasting love. It is also a day to show appreciation for nature and to honour women’s skill and diligence. In East Asian culture, Thất Tịch is often seen as a Valentine’s Day.
What is Thất Tịch?
In Vietnam, Thất Tịch is not an official public holiday, but many young people embrace it as a symbol of togetherness and of hoping to find the right partner. In recent years, with the growth of social media, young people have taken to celebrating it by eating red bean sweet soup and visiting pagodas to pray for love.
When is Thất Tịch?
Thất Tịch takes place on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month every year. On the Gregorian calendar, this usually falls in August. In 2025, Thất Tịch fell on Friday, 29 August.
Knowing the exact date matters if you are planning a marketing campaign around this occasion.
2. The origins of Thất Tịch
Thất Tịch comes from China and is tied to the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
The Cowherd was the Jade Emperor’s buffalo herder in the heavens, a gifted flute player who looked after the Emperor’s herd. The Weaver Girl was a fairy who wove cloth – diligent and talented. One day they met by chance and fell in love.
Lost in his love for the Weaver Girl, the Cowherd let his buffalo wander into the Jade Emperor’s palace, while the Weaver Girl, enchanted by his flute, neglected her weaving. When the Jade Emperor found out, he was furious and used the Milky Way to separate the lovers, one on each bank, unable to meet again.
After a time apart, seeing that the two remained faithful to each other, the Jade Emperor was moved and allowed them to meet once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. On that day, a flock of crows flies in to form the Ô Thước bridge across the Milky Way so that the couple can be reunited.
When it is time to part, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl weep with longing. Their tears fall to earth as rain, called mưa ngâu, which is why Vietnamese people call the couple Ông Ngâu and Bà Ngâu. It is also the folk explanation for why it so often rains around the 7th day of the 7th lunar month.
The origins of Thất Tịch
Thất Tịch in the past
Thất Tịch has never been a major festival in Vietnamese life, so few documents record its customs in detail. According to some records, however, before 1860 the day was also known as Tết Tiểu Xảo or the Thù Du festival.
One of the clearest records of Thất Tịch in Vietnam appears in the Chinese-script poetry collection Giá Viên thi tập by Phạm Phú Thứ (Nguyễn dynasty). According to it, the festival was observed both among ordinary people and at the royal court.
Among the people, Tết Tiểu Xảo was linked to women’s household crafts. On the night of Thất Tịch, families laid out cakes and fruit under the moonlight, believing the Weaver Girl’s star (Vega) shone brightest that night. They prayed for their daughters to be skilful, good at needlework and blessed with a harmonious marriage.
At court, the king held the Thù Du banquet – “thù du” being the name of a plant – and gave cakes and fruit to his officials and the royal household.
Later, as China turned Thất Tịch into a large-scale festival, many people came to believe that the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, or of Ông Ngâu and Bà Ngâu, came from Chinese culture. In traditional society, marriages were usually arranged by parents, and children had no say in – or reason to pray about – who they would marry. For this reason, dating or holding weddings in the 7th lunar month was not common in the past.
3. The meaning of Thất Tịch across Asia
From this legend, the 7th day of the 7th lunar month has become a distinctive cultural tradition across Asia – from China to Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
In China, it is a traditional day for young women to pray to meet the one they love and to have a happy love and marriage. People believe that couples who gaze at the Cowherd and Weaver Girl stars together on Qixi night will stay together forever. Single people also often eat red bean dessert on this day for luck in love. The festival also expresses respect for nature and for skilful, capable women.
The meaning of Qixi in China
In Korea, the festival is called Chilseok. Traditionally, people bathe on this day to pray for good health and to ward off illness. They also make wheat-based foods such as pancakes, steamed cakes and toasted breads.
The meaning of Chilseok in Korea
In Japan, the festival is known as Tanabata. It arrived in the 8th century and became popular during the Edo period. On 7 July, people fold paper into shapes to decorate or to give to each other for good luck. They also write wishes on colourful strips of paper called tanzaku and hang them on bamboo branches in front of their homes, hoping for good fortune, a good harvest and prosperity. Young people often wish to find the right partner soon.
The meaning of Tanabata in Japan
In Vietnam, Thất Tịch has existed for a very long time. The 7th lunar month is usually rainy, especially in the North. Folk belief holds that the rain is the parting tears of the Ngâu couple, so the day is also called the day of Ông Ngâu – Bà Ngâu.
On this occasion, couples often visit pagodas to pray for a lasting, happy relationship. Single people also go to pray that they will soon meet the right person. Besides love, many people pray for health, peace and prosperity for their families.
In the last couple of years, a new trend has spread among young Vietnamese: eating red beans on Thất Tịch to pray for love. There is an interesting difference, though. The “red bean” in Chinese culture is the hồng đậu (lovesick bean) – heart-shaped, bright red and very hard, often used in bracelets or jewellery as a symbol of love. In Vietnam, red beans are an everyday cooking ingredient. This is one of the fun quirks of Thất Tịch in Vietnam.
So far, there is no scientific evidence that eating red bean sweet soup helps your love life or brings you “the one” sooner. Even so, the custom is hugely popular with young people.
4. Fun things people do on Thất Tịch
Thất Tịch is not a major Vietnamese holiday. But thanks to social media, it has become a very special day for young people in Vietnam, with plenty of fun activities connected to it.
4.1. Eating red bean sweet soup for love
Here is a fun fact: the red bean trend is not a Vietnamese tradition at all. It came from a mix-up by a very popular social media channel in Vietnam, which confused the Chinese red bean with the Vietnamese one.
In Chinese culture, the hồng đậu means “lovesick bean”. It is bright red with a hard shell and a heart shape, and it can be kept for a long time without fading or being eaten by insects. The channel mistook it for the Vietnamese red bean – a very nutritious everyday ingredient – and spread the idea that eating red bean sweet soup on Thất Tịch would bring you a partner.
Although many young people now know the truth, plenty still joke on social media that they eat red bean soup “because it tastes better on the 7th of the 7th lunar month” or that “I ate it and I’m still single.”
Eating red bean sweet soup for love
4.2. Dates and gifts for loved ones
Many young people say that, besides Valentine’s Day, Thất Tịch is another occasion to express their feelings, go on dates and give gifts. On this day, if you pass popular dating spots such as cafés, West Lake or Hoàn Kiếm Lake, you will see many couples walking hand in hand.
Dates and gifts for loved ones
4.3. Visiting pagodas to pray for love
Visiting a pagoda to pray for love is another popular Thất Tịch activity. Couples go to pray for peace and for their love to grow stronger. Single people go too, hoping to find a partner who is right for them.
Visiting pagodas to pray for love
5. How businesses market around Thất Tịch
Social media is a channel with great potential for marketing campaigns, and almost every business now has a social media presence to connect with customers. Thất Tịch is a very good occasion for social media campaigns, because its audience – young people aged roughly 18 to 35 – is highly active online. So how do businesses usually market around it?
5.1. Free gifts with purchase
Some businesses run promotions that give a gift for the customer’s partner with every purchase. Typical gifts include flowers, handbags or stickers, together with a small card where the customer can write a message to their loved one.
Free gifts with purchase
5.2. Livestream selling
Livestreaming is a very common promotional format today. On Thất Tịch, many online businesses run livestream sales to encourage customers to buy. Shops that often choose this day for a livestream include online sellers of fashion, footwear and cosmetics – the kinds of items people usually give to their partners.
5.3. Discount and promo codes
Discount and promotional codes are a common tactic on special occasions, used to attract customers and encourage them to buy.
For example, Vị Quê Kitchen restaurant offered a free red bean sweet soup or green tea with red beans for bills over 500,000 VND, valid only on Thất Tịch – the 7th day of the 7th lunar month (29 August 2025).
Free add-on promotion with purchase
5.4. Minigames
If the goal of a campaign is to attract customers in a natural, engaging way, businesses can run minigames. Social media minigames include “comment any number to win”, or inviting customers to post a video sharing their story or using the product with a hashtag, with a prize for the most-engaged video. Many businesses have used this format on Thất Tịch.
In 2023, 9Pay ran a minigame called “Thất tịch mưa ngâu – Săn tìm đậu đỏ” (“Thất Tịch rain – Hunt for the red bean”). To take part, people had to like the fanpage, share the post publicly, comment with a screenshot of the red bean soup from the video clip plus a lucky number from 001 to 888, tag three friends and add the hashtag.
Minigames
Although it comes from an ancient legend, Thất Tịch remains one of Asia’s most distinctive cultural traditions – a day to pray for love, and a day that brings couples closer together and helps them understand each other better.
Planning a campaign for Thất Tịch or another seasonal moment in Vietnam? Talk to DMG about your social media and digital marketing plan.
