Qi Xi has since come to symbolize true love. In ancient times, girls would offer fruits and food to Zhi Nu on the night of the festival, praying for skillful hands like the goddess’s to weave with so they can find their ideal husbands. Children would also pick up wild flowers to hang on an ox’s horns in memory of the cow-god who sacrificed himself.

Festivals across greater China today celebrate a variety of different traditions in honor of Qi Xi. In China’s southeastern city Shaoxing (link in Chinese), girls hide in pumpkins farms, believing those who can hear the whispers of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu would find love soon. In Hunan province (link in Chinese), women fetch water from the mountains. Believing it to be holy, they wash their hair with so they can be blessed by Zhi Nu. Some even collect dew—symbolizing tears from the couple—in the early morning following Qi Xi, believing that drinking it would make them smarter. In Taiwan, people release floating lanterns (link in Chinese) into the sky to make wishes for love.

Confusingly, Qi Xi isn’t the only Valentine’s Day that Chinese people celebrate. They also celebrate love on Feb. 14 as well as the Lantern Festival (also sometimes called Chinese Valentine’s Day in English), which takes place over the Lunar New Year. But like the Western holiday, these days of love have become commercialized by hotels, chocolate companies, flowers vendors, and their ilk.