Editing Textiles in folklore (section)

==China==
{{See also|The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl}}

*In [[Tang dynasty]] [[China]], the goddess weaver floated down on a shaft of moonlight with her two attendants.  She showed the upright court official ''Guo Han'' in his garden that a goddess's robe is seamless, for it is woven without the use of needle and thread, entirely on the loom. The phrase "a goddess's robe is seamless" passed into an idiom to express perfect workmanship.  This idiom is also used to mean a perfect, comprehensive plan.
*The Goddess Weaver, daughter of the [[Queen Mother of the West|Celestial Queen Mother]] and [[Jade Emperor]], wove the [[stars]] and their light, known as "[[the Silver River]]" (what Westerners call "[[Milky Way|The Milky Way]] Galaxy"), for heaven and earth.  She was identified with the [[star]] Westerners know as [[Vega]].  In a 4,000-year-old legend, she came down from the Celestial Court and fell in love with the mortal Buffalo Boy (or Cowherd), (associated with the star [[Altair]]).  The Celestial Queen Mother was jealous and separated the lovers, but the Goddess Weaver stopped weaving the Silver River, which threatened heaven and earth with darkness.  The lovers were separated, but are able to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh moon.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=unM5hd_V13MC&dq=Chinese+Goddess-Weaver&pg=PA429 Jung Chang, ''Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China''], New York: Touchstone, 2003, reprint, GlobalFlair, 1991, p. 429, accessed 2 Nov 2009</ref>