Tanabata (Star Festival)
Next: July 7, 2027
Hang a wish for the stars.
The story
Where it comes from
Tanabata, Japan's Star Festival, means 'Evening of the Seventh'. It grew from a legend of ancient China: the weaver star Orihime (Vega) and the cowherd star Hikoboshi (Altair) are a married couple kept apart by the Milky Way, who may meet only once a year, on the seventh night of the seventh month. In Japan the star festival began as a court event and became popular across the country in the early Edo period. Most places keep it on 7 July; some, such as Sendai, hold it a month later to keep the season of the old calendar.
How it's celebrated
People write wishes on long, narrow strips of coloured paper called tanzaku and hang them on bamboo branches with other paper decorations, at home, in shopping arcades and at train stations. Afterwards the strips may be floated down a river or burned as an offering. Towns hold parades, food stalls and fireworks, and the traditional dish is cold somen noodles.
Did you know
- The long, thin somen noodles are said to stand for the threads that Orihime weaves.
- Sendai's festival, held from 6 to 8 August, is said to go back some 400 years to the city's first lord, Date Masamune, and draws more than two million visitors.
- Sendai's paper and bamboo decorations are judged, and the best in each shopping street win gold, silver and bronze placards.
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