Tanabata : A Japanese Festival
Tanabata is a traditional festival held in Japan.
Its origin was from an old chinese tale from 2000 years ago. The tale called Kikkoden.
Here's the story
It's about a weaver princess named Orihime and Cow Herder Prince named Hikoboshi who lived in the sky. After they were married, they were playing all the time and forgot about their job. The King was angry at them and separated them on the opposite of the milky way (Amanogawa River). They can only met on the seventh day of the seventh month once a year.
The name Tanabata itself had a meaning the Seventh Night. The tale also said that if that night is rainy then Orihime and Hikoboshi can't meet. And so that's the origin why people started to write their wishes on tanzaku paper (colorful small strips of paper) and hang it on the bamboo branches.
There were also decoration for tanabata such as streamers (weaving of threads), casting net (toami) and handbag (kinchaku).
The Tanabata festival usually celebrate on July 7th or August 7th depending on the region. And usually celebrated by setting a colourful display along the main street, light lanterns or bamboo leaves and float them on the river.
if you happens to be in Japan this July until August, you can watch the festival in the following places
a. the Hiratsuka City on the July 8th.
b. Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka on July 7th-10th.
c. Maebashi City, Gunma on July 7th-10th
d. Ichinomiya City, Aichi on July 28th-31st
e. Sendai City, Miyagi on August 6th - 8th
f. Anjo City, Aichi on August 5th - 7th
here's the video
Source : Gojapan and google image for the images, and youtube for the video
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