Tanabata–The Star Festival in Japan
July 2nd, 2014
The Star Festival is held in Japan in July. It’s called Tanabata. Tanabata means "evening of the seventh"… it takes place at night on July 7th every year. Ayako Egawa wrote about it from Japan:
"Tanabata is the Star Festival held on July 7th. It originated in China. We hang pretty fancy origami paper on which we write our wishes on a bamboo tree. Tanzaku (the paper) and other decorations are almost always made with origami paper (Japanese square paper).I found a pretty Tanabata decoration today at a community center. The bamboo tree I saw was very tall, up to 2nd floor of the center. It looks pretty!In that center, anyone who visits there can write wishes and hang it on the Tanabata display. The different shapes of the decorations look pretty, especially stars are nice because Tanabata means Star festival.It was the tallest and prettiest Tanabata decoration I have seen recently.I think it’s very nice to hold a seasonal event and keep traditions." -Ayako
Thanks for sharing Ayako! I hope you enjoy Tanabata this year!
-Mama Lisa
Note: You can learn more about Tanabata and find a Tanabata song here.
This article was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, Holiday Songs, Holidays Around the World, Japan, Japanese, Languages, Tanabata, Tanabata Songs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
One Response to “Tanabata–The Star Festival in Japan”
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July 2nd, 2014 at 7:31 pm
Ayako wrote:
Here’s a website of a Japanese shrine decorated for Tanbata. Please look at the photos, it’s very beautiful.
They decorate with Furin, 風鈴 (Japanese glass wind chimes) for Tanabata.