South Korean artist Mooni Perry has long been fascinated by the rituals and traditions rooted in Asian folklore, particularly those with a strong female focus. This passion led her to Hong Kong, where she recently completed a three-month residency at the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (Chat) in Tsuen Wan. Her work explored the cultural significance of female-centered communities and rituals, drawing inspiration from the enduring legend of the Seven Fairies, the celestial daughters of the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother of the West.
Perry discovered that the details of this folktale, which has been passed down for more than 2,000 years, differ across regions. In Hong Kong, the Seventh Sister Festival honors the Weaver Girl, also known as Zhi Nu, who fell in love with the mortal cowherd Niulang. According to the story, the two are separated by the Milky Way and only reunite once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, when magpies form a bridge to bring them together. This tale later inspired the Qixi Festival, often called Chinese Valentine’s Day.
Traditionally, unmarried women celebrated the festival by creating home altars decorated with offerings such as incense, candles, fruits, and embroidered items. Ritual paper art played a central role, especially the qijiepan, or Seventh Sister’s Basin, which contained miniature household items, ornaments, and images of the Weaver Girl and Cowherd. Paper clothes, called qijieyi, were also crafted and burned as offerings to the fairies.
Perry’s residency culminates in a workshop where participants will create their own paper offerings and join in a blessing ritual featuring AI-generated music based on scriptures from the Temple of the Seven Saints in Mui Wo. Her research highlights how these practices once served as customs passed from mother to daughter, particularly among Hong Kong’s female textile workers, before gradually disappearing in the 1970s.
Her fieldwork also uncovered striking variations in rituals. On Peng Chau Island, for example, Perry visited the small Seven Sisters Temple, while in Tseun Wan she witnessed a festival that unexpectedly emphasized male presence through a shaman-like figure who spoke in a female voice. She also gathered examples of sequin-covered crafts in Guangzhou and explored Hong Kong’s long-established paper offering shops.
For Perry, these traditions reflect the evolving roles of women. Once tied to marriage and family expectations, the rituals today resonate differently. Modern women, often unmarried or independent, see the Seven Fairies not as figures of domestic duty but as symbols of autonomy and resilience, embodying alternative forms of community in contemporary society.
READ MORE: