The Lovers Separated by the Milky Way

Tonight, if the sky is clear, look north after dark. Low over the horizon you'll find two bright stars with a faint, misty river of light running between them.

The brighter one, on the left, is Vega. The one across the river is Altair. Astronomers will tell you they are about 16 light years apart.

Grandmothers in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam will tell you something else. They are a wife and husband, and they have been waiting for each other for a very long time.

IThe weaver of clouds

Zhinü was a daughter of heaven, and her work was weaving. Every morning she sat at her loom and wove the clouds, the colours of the sunset, the soft light of the evening sky. Her work was so beautiful that the whole of heaven depended on it.

But she was lonely. Day after day at the loom, she watched the world below and wondered what it would be like to live in it.

IIThe cowherd

Far below lived Niulang, a poor young cowherd with nothing but an old ox. In many versions, the ox was no ordinary animal. It had once been a star itself, and it could speak. One day it told Niulang that the daughters of heaven would come down to bathe in a nearby lake.

That is how they met. In the oldest tellings, he took her robe from the bank so she couldn't fly home. In gentler ones, they simply fell in love at first sight. Either way, Zhinü stayed. She married the cowherd, wove cloth for the village, and had two children. For the first time in her life, she was happy.

And up in heaven, the sky had stopped changing colour.

IIIThe river in the sky

The Queen Mother of the West noticed that the clouds were no longer being woven. When she found out where Zhinü had gone, she was furious. A goddess could not belong to a mortal. She came down and took Zhinü back to heaven.

Niulang put his two children in baskets, hung them from a pole across his shoulders, and ran after them, up into the sky. Some say he wore a cloak made from the hide of his faithful ox, which had told him it would carry him. He was gaining on them.

So the Queen Mother pulled the gold hairpin from her hair and drew a single line across the heavens. Where it passed, a wide river of stars poured out. The Silver River. The Milky Way.

Niulang stood on one bank with the children. Zhinü stood on the other. Neither could cross.

And so they became stars, on either side of the river, forever.

IVThe bridge of wings

But their grief was so great that even heaven was moved. Once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, every magpie in the world flies up into the sky. They spread their wings and link together, and for one night, they make a bridge across the Silver River.

The weaver and the cowherd meet in the middle.

That night is Qixi in China, Tanabata in Japan and Chilseok in Korea, and it is still celebrated as a festival of love. Some people say that if it rains on Qixi, the rain is the lovers' tears. And if you see fewer magpies around that week, it's because they've all gone up to build the bridge.

VHow far apart they really are

Here is the part that hurts a little. Vega and Altair are real stars, and the Milky Way between them is real too. It's the light of billions of distant stars in our galaxy's disc.

Vega is about 25 light years from Earth. Altair is about 17. And the two stars are roughly 16 light years apart. If the weaver sent a message to the cowherd at the speed of light, it would take sixteen years to reach him.

VIHow Qixi is still celebrated

In China, Qixi is sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day, but its oldest traditions are about skill, not romance. Young women would try to thread a needle by moonlight, or float a needle on a bowl of water and read their future in its shadow, asking the Weaver Girl for skill with their hands.

In Japan, on Tanabata, people write wishes on strips of coloured paper and hang them on bamboo branches. In Korea, on Chilseok, families eat wheat noodles and pancakes, and it's said the rain that often falls that day is the couple's tears of joy at meeting, and then of sorrow at parting.

In every version, the heart of it is the same: a once-a-year reunion that's worth waiting for.

A question worth asking: if you only had one night a year with someone, who would it be, and what would you say?

VIIWhy we keep telling it

Almost everyone has loved someone who was far away. Different cities, different countries, different time zones. Video calls at the wrong hour, counting the days until a visit.

The weaver and the cowherd are the oldest long-distance couple in the world. They don't get every day. They get one night, and they keep showing up for it.

Who is on the other side of your river?