Thursday, July 7, 2011

Tanabata

Tanabata is the star festival that is celebrated in Japan every July 7th. It is the night when the two stars, Veda and Altair meet in the night sky. I wrote about the Japanese version of the mythical story behind this celestial event in this post last year. During our childhood vacations in Japan, Tanabata defined summer: the delicate bamboo branches decked out with hand-written wishes, the street festivals, paper lanterns, people walking around leisurely in their yukatafirecrackers and sparklers, and kusudama decorations. The past couple of years I wish that I could recreate that atmosphere for Mayumi, but it is just different on a small scale. And I just haven't been very resourceful about finding bamboo branches to decorate...

All the same, today we went to the Japan Information and Cultural Center for a kamishibai story time. Maya wore her yukata and loved hearing the story of Orihime. They had crafts and snacks and it was like enjoying a piece of Japan for a few hours.

Hope your summer is turning out to be magical and that on this night, when lover stars meet across the night sky, your wishes come true!

5 comments:

Pomegranategrl said...

She looks beautiful E!

Kim said...

Oh my, she's just adorable! I did not know about this holiday! Growing up Japanese in Hawaii is a very different thing I think...a lot of the traditional things have been modified or merged with the other cultures. (filipino, chinese, portuguese) It's so neat for me to read about these traditional Japanese aspects on your blog!

Kumi said...

It's very nice that you keep Japanese heritages/traditions for Maya. I've never thought it is important for my children in the State. How silly I was/am,,,,

This Girl loves to Talk said...

I would love to celebrate Tanabata! 3 of my girls have their own Yukata that were gifts from the japanese exchange students that have lived with us over the years. My girls love to dress up in yukata for school celebrations/harmony day etc

MaTribuZen said...

So beautiful ! Really adorable !♥