The Tanabata Festival, also known as the Star or Wish Festival, is a Japanese celebration held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. It honors the legend of two separated lovers who reunite on this night by crossing the Milky Way. The festival promotes the idea that wishes can come true and includes the creation of wishing trees, carnivals, and costume contests. The holiday has spread in popularity beyond Japan, particularly to São Paulo, Brazil.
Tanabata Festival is a popular Japanese celebration also called Star Festival or Wish Festival. Believed to derive from the Chinese festival Qi Xi, the celebration is held annually on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. The party is linked to an ancient legend of two separated lovers considered similar to Romeo and Juliet.
According to legend, the lovers, usually depicted as a weaver and a cowboy, were turned into stars after they could not be together on earth. On the night of the Tanabata Festival, the two lovers can reunite, crossing the Milky Way galaxy to be together. The stars are named Orihime and Hikoboshi and are scientifically designated as Vega and Altair.
The story has special importance in Japan, where love opposed by duty is a recurring theme in legends and myths. Until the 20th century, marriages in Japan were often arranged by families for political, social or monetary gain. Getting married for love used to be a rare thing and many couples were separated because of the system. The Tanabata Festival honors love encounters and promotes the idea that wishes can come true.
Since the dates coincide, the Tanabata Festival was originally connected with the Buddhist Ancestral Remembrance Day, called the Obon Festival. After the customs spread to the general public, the holidays became distinctly different. In modern times, Tanabata is held in July, although its date may vary according to the lunar calendar. The Obon festival is always held on August 15, as it is based on the solar calendar.
A custom of the Tanabata Festival is the creation of wishing trees. People are encouraged to purchase special strips of colored paper to write wishes or poems on, which are then folded and tied around bamboo trees. To ensure secrecy, the bamboo is placed in a nearby river or burned after the festival ends. Originally, these wishes were meant to increase skills or talents, but today it can be any deeply desired wish.
The Tanabata Festival is celebrated throughout Japan with a variety of carnivals and costumes. Many regions hold decoration contests or parades, and some even hold beauty contests to crown a Miss Tanabata. Special decorations such as paper kimonos and cranes are hung to ask for specific blessings such as long life or good business. Colorful paper streamers decorate the streets in honor of the strips of cloth used by the weaver of legend.
The holiday has spread in popularity beyond Japan, particularly to São Paulo, Brazil. This city, which has a large Japanese population, began honoring the festival in 1979. The Tanabata Festival is now held on the first weekend of July each year and draws huge crowds to its parades and cultural dance and music performances.
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