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Tanabata (七夕, meaning "Seven Evenings") is a Japanese star festival, derived from Obon traditions and the Chinese star festival, Qi Xi. The festival is usually held on July 7, and celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year. This special day is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar.

History

The festival originated from The Festival to Plead for Skills (乞巧節; qǐ qiǎo jié), an alternative name for Qi Xi, which was celebrated in the Kyoto Imperial Palace from the Heian Period. The festival spread to the general public by the early Edo period, became mixed with various Obon traditions, and developed into the modern Tanabata festival. In the Edo period, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. At this time, the custom was to use dew left on Taro leaves to create the ink used to write wishes.

Customs

In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊, small pieces of paper) and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. This resembles the custom of floating paper ships and candles on rivers during Obon. Many areas in Japan have their own Tanabata customs, which are mostly related to local Obon traditions.

There is also a traditional song that goes with Tanabata that is taught to almost every Japanese child:

   Sasa no ha sara-sara
   Nokiba ni yureru
   Ohoshi-sama kira-kira
   Kin Gin sunago

Translation:

   The bamboo leaves, rustle, rustle,
   shaking away in the eaves.
   The stars go twinkle, twinkle;
   Gold and silver grains of sand.

Date

The original Tanabata date was based on the Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is about a month behind the Gregorian calendar. As a result, some festivals are held on July 7, some are held on a few days around August 7, while the others are still held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is usually in the Gregorian Calendar's August.

The Gregorian dates of "the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar" for upcoming years are:

Tanabata festivals

Large-scale Tanabata festivals are held in many places in Japan, mainly along shopping malls and streets, which are decorated with large, colorful streamers. The most famous Tanabata festival is held in Sendai from August 5 to 8. In the Kanto area, the biggest Tanabata festival is held in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa for a few days around July 7. A Tanabata festival is also held in São Paulo, Brazil around the first weekend of July.

Although Tanabata festivals vary from region to region, most festivals involve Tanabata decoration competitions. Other events may include parades and Miss Tanabata contests. Like other Japanese festivals, many outdoor stalls sell food, provide carnival games, etc., and add to the festive atmosphere.

The Sendai Tanabata Festival

The Sendai Tanabata festival began shortly after the city was founded in the early Edo Period. The Tanabata festival gradually developed and became larger over the years. Although the festival's popularity started to dwindle after the Meiji Restoration, and almost disappeared during the economic depression that occurred after World War I, volunteers in Sendai revived the festival in 1928 and established the tradition of holding the festival from August 6 to 8.

During World War II it was impossible to hold the festival, and almost no decorations were seen in the city from 1943 to 1945, but after the war, the first major Tanabata festival in Sendai was held in 1946, and featured 52 decorations. In 1947, the Showa Emperor Hirohito visited Sendai and was greeted by 5,000 Tanabata decorations. The festival subsequently developed into one of the three major summer festivals in the Tohoku region and became a major tourist attraction. The festival now includes a fireworks show that is held on August 5.

At the Sendai Tanabata festival, people traditionally use seven different kinds of decorations, which each represent different meanings. The seven decorations and their symbolic meanings are:

Paper strips (短冊; Tanzaku) : Wishes for good handwriting and studies
Paper Kimono (紙衣; Kamigoromo) : Wishes for good sewing. Wards off accidents and bad health.

Paper Kimono (紙衣; Kamigoromo) : Wishes for good sewing. Wards off accidents and bad health.
Paper Crane (折り鶴; Orizuru) : Family safety, health, and long life
Purse (巾着; Kinchaku) : Good business
Net (投網; Toami) : Good fishing and harvests
Trash Bag (くずかご; Kuzukago) : Cleanliness and unwastefulness
Streamers (吹き流し; Fukinagashi) : The strings that Orihime uses to weave

Tanabata streamers with box-shaped ornaments

The ornamental ball (くす玉; Kusudama) often decorated above streamers in present-day Tanabata decorations was originally conceived in 1946 by the owner of a shop in downtown Sendai. The ball was originally modelled after the Dahlia flower. In recent years, box-shaped ornaments have become popular alternatives to the ornamental ball.

Story behind the Tanabata

The story behind the Tanabata is a very interesting one. A young farmer named Mikeran saw a rob lying on the ground one day and decided to take it away to his hut. However, soon after that, a beautiful goddess descended from the skies and asked him, "Have you seen my celestial robe? I cannot return to the skies without it!" Mikeran lied and told Tanabata, the goddess that he had not but he would help her look for it. Gradually, they fell in love and got married and had many children. However, one day when Mikeran was out working on the fields, Tanabata noticed a shiny piece of cloth poking from the thatched roof. She pulled it and to her dismay, it was her celestial garment! When Mikeran returned and saw her garbed in it, his heart stopped because he knew that she knew he had lied. He fell on his knees begging her to forgive him, but Tanabata had only one thing to say, "Mikeran," she said, "If you really love me, you will weave 1000 pairs of straw shoes. Only then will I return to you." She said this and then disappeared. Mikeran tried his best to weave the shoes but could not weave them in his lifetime, thus he never met Tanabata again. However, it is said that they meet once in a while when the moons/stars Altair and Vega intersect.

External links

Kids Web Japan