Tanabata - The Star Festival

So today is a holiday here in Japan that most people probably don’t know about, so I figured I’d give a little run down. July 7th is Tanabata, also called the Star Festival. One of my kids wrote a poem about it in the previous post, and now you’ll finally know what he was talking about!

The story goes like this:

A long time ago the Tentei (or Sky King, but think less like God and more like the entire universe itself) had a beautiful daughter named Orihime (whose name literally means Weaving Princess). Orihime would sit by the banks of the Milky Way (Which in Japanese is 天の川, amanogawa literally “river of heaven”) and weave beautiful cloth. She worked hard every day. But she was very sad because, since she worked so hard, she would never be able to meet a boy and fall in love. Tentei wanted his daughter to be happy, so he arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (lit. Cow Herder Star), a cow herder. When they met they fell instantly in love and were soon married. This should have been a very happy time, but they were so busy with each other that Orihime no longer wove cloth and Hikoboshi let his cows roam all over the heavens. Tentei was very angry and separated the two lovers, sending Hikoboshi to the other side of the Milky Way and forbidding them to ever see each other again.

Of course, they were both very sad. Orihime begged her father to let them met again, and Tentei agreed that if Orihime worked hard and finished all of her weaving that the two could meet once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month. Orihime worked very hard and when the day arrived she had finished all of her work and it was as beautiful as ever. When the two went to meet however, they found that there was no bridge and they could not cross the river. Orihime cried and cried. A flock of magpies heard her crying and came to the pair. They made a bridge out of their wings so that Orihime could cross to Hikoboshi. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata that the magpies cannot come and the couple must wait another year to meet (hence, most people wish for good weather on this day).

You can still see the pair in the sky. Orihime is the star Vega and Hikoboshi is the star Altair.

So how do we celebrate the reunion of these two hard working lovers? Most people write wishes on thin paper strips and hang them from bamboo along with many other paper decorations. These wishes were traditionally for things like better handwriting and improved skill at weaving or other crafts, but today you can wish for just about anything. Many students wish to do well in their studies and many parents make wishes for their children’s futures. And some kids wish for more Nintendo DS games. After Tanabata the bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned. There are several bigger festivals around the country where decoration contests and parades are held.

The decorated bamboo are VERY popular around this time and you can find them inside and outside of businesses, in schools, and even in front of some homes!  These pics are all from the train station.

Today at lunch we had a special desert in honor of the festival. It was star shaped grape jello with two little stars (made of something else) inside or it. Two stars for the two lovers, how cute!

Happy Tanabata everyone!  I hope your wishes come true!