TANABATA, THE STAR FESTIVAL

Tanabata festival, also known as the Star Festival, is celebrated to commemorate the romantic story of two lovers which are represented as the stars Vega and Altair who are only allowed to meet each other once a year. It is celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, which is July 7th in the modern calender.

On Tanabata, people usually write wishes on small pieces of colored paper called tanazuku and hang them on bamboo trees. On the following day, the decorated bamboo trees are floated on a river and burned as an offering. There are also many celebrations all over Japan, like parades, festival, and fireworks.

Tanabata was actually a Chinese legend called Qixi, Qixi was brought to Japan in 8th century and Japanese people was adopting the legend and renaming the legend as Tanabata. Because it is adopted from Chinese legend, there is no different between them.