 |
| Tanabata |
This festival occurs because of a Chinese legend. There seem to various versions of this story, but it generally goes like this: a cow herder prince and a weaver princess fell in love. They spent all their time together and forgot their jobs, so the King separated them. They had to stay either side of the river and were only allowed to meet one day a year - the 7th July. Somehow the prince and the princess are now stars - Altair, the cow herder star, and Vega, the weaver star. They are separated by the Milky Way (the river) and can only meet on a clear night on the 7th July, or the equivalent astrological date each year.
The Japanese celebrate these lovers meeting by having bamboo trees everywhere, mainly in stations and shops. These trees are decorated with lots of streamers and colourful pieces of paper. People write their wishes on the pieces of paper in the hope that they will come true.
I added my wish to the tree in Nihombashi station and today took part in the celebrations organised by the international exchange salon in my district. This group also runs my language school. It was lots of fun, despite not understanding a lot because it was all in Japanese! I had to introduce myself in Japanese, then write my wish (also in Japanese, though by choice). Everyone wore a 'happi' coat and we did several traditional Japanese dances - a bit like line dancing. An experience!
No comments:
Post a Comment