Tanabata
Today is Tanabata, a famous summer festival, which has been celebrated in Japan since the 700's. The story behind Tanabata is that the weaving princess Orihime and the cowherder Hikoboshi met, fell madly in love, and married. Their love was the only thing that mattered and they neglected their work duties. Orihime's father, the king of the heavens, was so angry that he separated them to opposite sides of the Milky Way. Orihime became the star Vega and Hikoboshi became the star Altair. Orihime was beartbroken and cried day and night, which did not get her back to her duties of weaving. Her father was moved by the tears and allowed the couple to meet once a year at the MIlky Way on Tanabata.
One of the ways Tanabata is celebrated is by writing one's wishes on colorful pieces of paper and hanging them on bamboo tree branches. Most places celebrate Tanabata on July 7th, but in some places, including Hokkaido and Sendai, it is celebrated on August 7th.
Where I live there is a big festival for Tanabata. It hasn't been held for the last few years because of Covid-19, but will be held this year. I would like to attend, but I am leaning more toward not going. The festival is held on a narrow street and when I have attended in the past it was quite crowded. I have managed to avoid getting infected to far and would like to continue that way.
A few photos from the 2016 festival
In 2019, the stitch group met on July 7th and we wrote our wishes and hung them on the bamboo.
What wishes would you hang on the Tanabata bamboo this year?
7 comments:
My wish would be….let the world live in harmony with each other.
Like Jacaranda, a world of peace, harmony, humanity and solidarity.
Also, for myself, to stay free of civid infections. So I will not attend any public festivities today.
I think I would be like you Pamela, leaning towards the not going, looks like it could be congested. I would like the world to be a happy harmonious place free from war and I too wish to stay free from the virus.
I suppose we could wish that the pandemic was over! But a lot of people are pretending that's the case anyway.
One year our family went to Sendai for the matsuri. I think we took in three festivals on that trip. My wish would be for people to solve their issues without fighting ... yes, more peace and harmony.
What a beautiful legend. I love that your group met together and hung your wishes. I can see why you might be on the fence on the celebration but it does look beautiful and great fun.
If I were to write a wish, it might be to be able to attend this kind of festival again without having to worry! How are infections numbers going in Japan? Here, it seems like everyone I know is getting sick now.
Post a Comment