Tanabata, the Japanese romance festival

Assalammualaikum readers..

As we know, today is the 7th of July and in Japan the Japanese celebrate a special festival called Tanabata (七夕, meaning "Evening of the seventh") or also known as the Star Festival. It is said that the Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival which also celebrated in China till today. Behind of the celebration, there is a belief that this day is actually to celebrate the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively).

According to the Chinese  folklore story,it's about a princess(goddess) and the boy she loves.As her the princess's mother does not approve their true love, so she separate them across a wide river in the sky,forever.The princess cried so much as they got separated far from each other.But once a year,all the birds(magpies) in the sky feel sad for them and they form a bridge so that the two of them maybe together for a single night.There are so many versions of the story and the flow of the story varies from one to other country.

It is said that hanging the tanzaku
at the highest position get the dream comes true

tanabata in Mallage

Tanabata in Sagadai

Tanabata in Fukuoka Zoo

In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊, tanzaku), 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.


Thanks for reading :)