Chinese dialect groups gather to celebrate revived Qixi Festival

Chinese dialect groups in Singapore are coming together for the first time to celebrate a traditional Chinese festival, which returns here for the second year running.

- Chin Soo Fang

Qixi Fest 2024, which celebrates the Qixi Festival, kicked off on Aug 3 with a street party in Keong Saik Road.

Also known as the Double Seventh Festival, Qiqiao Festival (qiqiao means “wishing for skills” in English) and Seven Sisters Festival, it marks the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, which falls on Aug 10 in 2024.

Celebrating cultural heritage, craftsmanship and community, Qixi Fest 2024 at Chinatown’s Kreta Ayer Square will run from Aug 4 to 11.

It features workshops, games and performances, as well as traditional Qixi festival customs.

Qiaoguo, a type of sweet pastry, is traditionally made and gifted among family and friends at the festival.

A DIY Qiaoguo kit at Qixi Fest allows participants to create their own version of the pastry. Besides the original base featuring red and white bean paste to represent the colours of Singapore, it has flavours representing the different dialects and customs.

Each DIY kit has a “blind box” that comes with one of six extra flavours – Hainanese desiccated coconut, Cantonese red dates, Teo­chew longan, Hakka mugwort powder and sesame, Hokkien roasted soya bean powder, and hazelnuts representing the new immigrants in Singapore.