Tanabata(The Star Festival)
Tanabata (七夕) or The Star Festival is a Japanese festival which has its origins from China. It is celebrated on the 7th of July and the reading for the Kanji 七夕 itself means the evening of the 7th. There are more than one myths associated with this festival but the most popular story goes this way.
"Orihime(Weaving Princess) who is the star "VEGA" used to work very hard weaving beautiful clothes near the banks of the heavenly river Amanogawa which is the "MILKY WAY". She once met Hikoboshi(The Cow Herder) who is the star "ALTAIR" who lived on the other side of Amanogawa and they fell in love instantly and shortly after married. Once married, Orihime stopped weaving clothes and Hikoboshi let his cows stray. The Sky King, Orihime's father was angered by their neglect to each other's duties and separated them and forced them to live on either sides of Amanogawa. Orihime was heart broken and wished that she could meet her husband. Her father took pity on her and granted her a wish that she could meet Hikoboshi once in a year on the evening of 7th July. When they were to meet on the first year, they could not cross the river as there was no bridge. They sought help from some Magpies, who spread their wings and made a bridge for the lovers to meet. "
On Tanabata, people decorate bamboo branches with colourful decorations and also hang strips of paper with wishes written on them. It is believed that your wishes will come true if you pray to these two stars on 7th July. There's another catch to it though :) If 7th of July happens to be a rainy day, the magpies cannot come out and hence the lovers cannot meet and have to wait for another whole year to meet again. And for us mortals it would mean that, if it rains on 7th July, no wishes are going to be granted.
Me and my friends here (Sn,V and Su) had the wish of trying out the Japanese Kimono from a long time. There are lot of places which rent out Kimono, but the rates are in tens of thousands of YEN and we weren't ready to spend more than a thousand yen :) Though we were not aware of this "Wish granting festival", our wish was granted anyways. An all ladies group led by Y-san, have a service for foreigners on the 2nd Saturday of every month, where we can try out the Japanese Kimono for just 500 yen!!! So, on Saturday July 11th we went to the Atsuta Lifelong Learning Center in Nagoya and tried out the Kimono. The group intended to celebrate the Star Festival on that day so that they could impart knowledge to foreigners like us about this interesting piece of Japanese culture. So all of us made some decorative pieces with coloured paper(this form of art is known as Origami) and wrote down wishes on strips of paper to decorate our bamboo branches (Sasa). Then there was a small tea ceremony where we tasted the "bitter" green tea and some snacks!! It was an educative and interesting experience which we thoroughly enjoyed!!
Although I know that July is the rainiest month of all in Japan, I hope against hope that, every year July 7th remains a NON RAINY day in Japan !!
"Orihime(Weaving Princess) who is the star "VEGA" used to work very hard weaving beautiful clothes near the banks of the heavenly river Amanogawa which is the "MILKY WAY". She once met Hikoboshi(The Cow Herder) who is the star "ALTAIR" who lived on the other side of Amanogawa and they fell in love instantly and shortly after married. Once married, Orihime stopped weaving clothes and Hikoboshi let his cows stray. The Sky King, Orihime's father was angered by their neglect to each other's duties and separated them and forced them to live on either sides of Amanogawa. Orihime was heart broken and wished that she could meet her husband. Her father took pity on her and granted her a wish that she could meet Hikoboshi once in a year on the evening of 7th July. When they were to meet on the first year, they could not cross the river as there was no bridge. They sought help from some Magpies, who spread their wings and made a bridge for the lovers to meet. "
On Tanabata, people decorate bamboo branches with colourful decorations and also hang strips of paper with wishes written on them. It is believed that your wishes will come true if you pray to these two stars on 7th July. There's another catch to it though :) If 7th of July happens to be a rainy day, the magpies cannot come out and hence the lovers cannot meet and have to wait for another whole year to meet again. And for us mortals it would mean that, if it rains on 7th July, no wishes are going to be granted.
Me and my friends here (Sn,V and Su) had the wish of trying out the Japanese Kimono from a long time. There are lot of places which rent out Kimono, but the rates are in tens of thousands of YEN and we weren't ready to spend more than a thousand yen :) Though we were not aware of this "Wish granting festival", our wish was granted anyways. An all ladies group led by Y-san, have a service for foreigners on the 2nd Saturday of every month, where we can try out the Japanese Kimono for just 500 yen!!! So, on Saturday July 11th we went to the Atsuta Lifelong Learning Center in Nagoya and tried out the Kimono. The group intended to celebrate the Star Festival on that day so that they could impart knowledge to foreigners like us about this interesting piece of Japanese culture. So all of us made some decorative pieces with coloured paper(this form of art is known as Origami) and wrote down wishes on strips of paper to decorate our bamboo branches (Sasa). Then there was a small tea ceremony where we tasted the "bitter" green tea and some snacks!! It was an educative and interesting experience which we thoroughly enjoyed!!
Although I know that July is the rainiest month of all in Japan, I hope against hope that, every year July 7th remains a NON RAINY day in Japan !!
posted by Shubha Prashanth @ 8:29 PM
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