Tanabata Matsuri
Tanabata Matsuri, or the Star Festival, takes place on the 7h day of the 7th month. It is a reference to the Chinese Lunar Calendar which has a very vague indication in modern days, so different regions have their own festival dates around July-August.The origins of the festival comes from an old Chinese tale called Kikkoden, and is very romantic. Princess Orihime lived in the sky with his father the King. She accidentally met with Hikoboshi the cattle herder, and they fell in love. Orihime, who was very skilled in weaving, lost all passion for the craft. Likewise Hikoboshi, who was very skilled in cattle herding, let cattle run wild. As the cattle ran wild and nobody was there to fix torn clothes, Orihime's father was greatly angered. He separated the lovers to the opposite sides of Ama-no-gawa, (or the Milky Way). Orihime and Hikoboshi could only see each other from a distance, and Orihime wept and wept.
A Kasasagi (magpie) saw Orihime's sorrow and felt sorry for the lovers. He promised that every 7th day of the 7th moon he would built a bridge over Ama-no-Gawa with his wings, one that Orihime could cross and the lovers could meet. Unfortunately, if the 7th day of the 7th moon would be rainy, Kasasagi's feathers would get slippery and he would not be able to make the bridge. The lovers would not meet for another year.
Orihime and Hikoboshi can be seen in the sky as the stars Vega and Altair, respectively, right next to each other on the opposite sides of the Milky Way, at the constellation of Lyra. From an astronomical point of view the story has a sad ending, because Vega is a class A0V star, one that burns it's hydrogen supplies very very fast. Orihime won't have long to live anymore.
Tanabata festival is a romantic festival, very popular with children and young women who have romantic aspirations or interest in becoming skilled in weaving. Celebration varies from region to region. To pray for good weather (so that the lovers could meet) and display bamboo sticks decorated with romantic poems and wishes, in front of your house. At the end of the festival these sticks are thrown into the river to be carried away with misfortune, or placed in rice paddies for good luck (and insect repellent). Tanabata is mainly a rural festival.
That is so wonderful bit of Japanese culture. I didn’t know about this. I wonder if Yanagita Kunio would have written about the past Tanabata Matsuri’s. I will ask my friends!
ヤーッコ (Email) (URL) - 06 08 06 - 14:54