November:“光棍节”，不伤悲！

很多年前听过一首歌《没有情人的情人节》，孟庭苇恬静、忧伤的嗓音倾尽了单身的悲戚和落寞。十余年滑过，忽然发现，身边的“单身贵族”似乎有增无减，而且，单身不再是伤感的代名词，它代表着时尚、自由和神秘。2006年11月11日的“光棍节”，单身的你要不要也来凑个热闹？注意喽，这可是中国民间的独创，起源于我们最为熟悉的大学校园。“光棍节”怎么过？大家伙各有自己的独到之乐，文中的“风俗”，如在这一天吃四根油条、媒人牵约或佳人喜结连理，只能是“据资料记载”。若您能对“资料记载”有所超越、有所创新，可以告诉我们，大家一起分享。 温馨提示：11月11日“光棍节”

"Singles Day" falls on every November 11th and is celebrated1 only in China. It is a festival exclusively for singles. To find out more about this festival, read on.

"Singles Day" falls on every November 11th, and as the name indicates, this relatively² new holiday is one exclusively for people who are still living the single life. I was a bit surprised when I googled 'Singles Day' on the Internet, to find that China is the only country in the world that has set aside a special day for singles to celebrate their lives. To find out more about this celebration, read on. 

 Origin of Singles Day

An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and playedMahjong.

One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the 'four columns' card (the card shows four independent, parallel columns in two lines). Even more of a coincidence, it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to commemorate³ the day, they nicknamed⁴ it "Singles Day".

  University culture

"Singles Day" was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. It got the name "Singles Day" because the date is comprised of four "ones". These college students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society. Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.

The main way to celebrate "Singles Day" is to have dinner with your single friends, but it's important that each person pay their own way to show their independence. People also hold 'blind date'parties in an attempt to bid goodbye to their single lives.

 Creative celebration

For breakfast on "Singles Day", singles often eat four youtiao (deep-fried dough⁵ sticks) representing the four "ones" in "11.11" and one baozi (steamed stuffed buns) representing the middle dot.

Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend 'blind date' parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning 'single' the four 'ones' of the date can also mean 'only one' as in 'the only one for me.' Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only 'one' in their heart.

Vocabulary:

Singles Day: 光棍节 blind date: 不相识的男女第一次约会