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Sevens, wishes and skills: Tanabata Festival
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by jessica.lam | July 7, 2008 at 08:42 am
615 views | 13 Recommendations | 10 comments
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The number seven is referenced many a time and often for it's connection to mythical or folklorish events. The reason for celebrating today is the fact that it's the seventh day of the seventh month. The Tanabata festival, one that is celebrated at night when the stars are out, is based on the story of a two unrequited lovers separated by a river.
The festival originated from The Festival to Plead for Skills (乞巧節; qǐ qiǎo jié, or 乞巧奠; きっこうでん), an alternative name for Qi Xi, which was celebrated in China and also was adopted 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 or Bon (盆）traditions (because the Bon was held on 15th of the seventh month then), 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. Incidentally, the Bon is now held on the 15th of August on the solar calendar, close to its original date on the lunar calendar, making Tanabata and Bon as further separate events.
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. There is also a traditional Tanabata song:
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at 10:48 on July 7th, 2008
jay.el, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 16:47 on July 7th, 2008
Hiratsuka was incredibly crowded that day, it was very nice experience: tons of people, noise, the street decoration it just beautiful, eating in the street stalls ... i recommend everyboby to visit it.
regards.
freedmv has contributed a photo to this story.
at 20:12 on July 7th, 2008
These are Tanabata dolls from Matsumoto, Nagano. For the Tanabata festival, on July 7th, wishes are written on coloured stips of paper and hung on bamboo branches. In Matsumoto, paper or wooden dolls are also hung under the eaves. It is believed that the wind that blows the dolls will take away bad luck.
melanie gray augustin has contributed a photo to this story.
at 23:15 on July 7th, 2008
jay.el, I like this story. It's good stuff.
humid so humid
the children fall asleep
counting stars
at 01:14 on July 8th, 2008
On Saturday 5th July, hundreds of Liverpudlians joined Liverpool Oxfam volunteers and wrote their wishes for this G8, asking world leaders to do more to fight climate change, keep the aid promises made in 2005 and focus aid efforts towards health. The wishes were then attached to a Superlambanana on The Strand in Liverpool- and attracted an awful of attention from motorists and passers by! Natalie Jones,Liverpool Oxfam volunteers, said: "People in Liverpool do care about the outcome of this G8, and our improvised Tanabata Superlambana proves it!" Tanabata is a festival which takes place every year in Japan. Usually people write their wishes on strips of paper and then attach them to bamboo trees. Liverpudlians were short of bamboo trees and decided to attach their wishes to one of the 120 Superlambananas that have been placed in Liverpool this year as part of a parade to mark the European Capital of Culture.
Oxfam North West has contributed a photo to this story.
at 03:26 on July 8th, 2008
Taken in Misawa, Japan at their annual Tanabata Festival.
GingrichCrew has contributed a photo to this story.
at 04:40 on July 8th, 2008
This man was walking towards me during the Tanabata Festival held in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa-ken, Japan. Obviously mesmerized by the many colorful lanterns and banners hanging along the streets of Hiratsuka, he didn't look mindful of the crowd nor the humidity on that day. (July 5, 2008)
cordobits has contributed a photo to this story.
at 06:27 on July 9th, 2008
At Japanese festivals like Tanabata, all the streets are lined with colourful "yatai", little stalls selling food or toys or where you can try catching mini-goldfish or mini-turtles with paper nets... One Japanese favourite is "takoyaki", balls of dough filled with cabbage and - of course - "tako", which means octopus. The whole thing is topped of with special sauce, mayonaise and "katsuobushi", flakes of dried bonite fish. Yummy!
Hesindiane has contributed a photo to this story.
at 07:48 on July 10th, 2008
Thank you, jay.el :)
yocca has contributed a photo to this story.
at 07:45 on July 24th, 2008
This photo is of "wishes" that the public have written on brightly coloured strips and hung downtown in a city in Japan in celebration of the Tanabata Matsuri ("Star Festival") in July 2007.
Julia Lane has contributed a photo to this story.