Thursday, July 7, 2011

Tanabata

It's the seventh of the seventh, which in Japan (I've just remembered) is celebrated as "Tanabata-matsuri", the star festival, after a legend in which two divided lovers are permitted to meet as stars in the milkyway on this one night of the year. 

I was obsessed with Japan as a child, and at least once held a Tanabata party in the back garden.  Friends came dressed in international costumes, and we tied wishes to a tree branch, which is what Japanese people traditionally do.

I can't remember what I wished for at the age of nine or ten, nor what I wished for years later when I got to celebrate Tanabata for real as a student in Japan.  There are always little of-the-moment things to wish for (I wish the Girl's passport would arrive!) and huge things (world peace etc), but other than that...? 

Well, all good wishes to you!

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