七夕 on July 7th is called Tanabata in Japan.
We decorate bamboo tree with paper ornament and write our wish on a piece of color paper called 短冊-tanzaku. It’s July 7th. Some people celebrate Tanabata on lunar calendar.
The legend of Tanabata came from ancient China. The story go:es as follows:
In heaven there were a young couple.
She was a weaver and he was a cattleman. They were once a hard working man and woman but they were devoted in love only and neglect their work. God got angry and he separated them with a river. They worked hard again and God felt sorry for them. He allowed them to meet once a year. The river is said to be the Milky Way as she ( Vega )and he( Altair) are able to see each other when the weather is fine but when it’s rainy, they can see on the bridge of magpie on July 7th.
This is a very basic explanation of Tanabata. I remember in kindergarten we made something with origami. In elementary when I was an elementary student, we made paper ornament with origmi and sang a Tanabata song. We wrote our wishes on color paper with a focused mind. Our wishes were very simple.
Fir example I wished to be Superman. I wished to be taller. I will be a starting member of a baseball team. I wished to be a singer. I wished to be more intelligent. … I wished to get a perfect grade.
It was said that we could be better in calligraphy if we wished and wrote with a ink and morning dew on Tanabata day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cke3Enf-r3o&list=RDcke3Enf-r3
At night of July 7th, I often looked up at the sky to see if they could meet. When it was a clear day,I imagined they would meet . Just watching stars and imaging this made me feel romantic and happy. When it’s rainy, I was a little disappointed, though I knew it’s just a story. Even though I’m grown up, I like to see the sky on July 7th, thinking about this romantic story.
This year in the States, I almost forgot July 7th. At thatmid night I opened the window and looked up in the sky. I saw some stars and I felt happy Orihime and Hikoboshi could meet tonight. Then I could go back to sleep.
This is my understanding of Tanabata. There are many different version, depending which location you’re from.
I should have posted this before July 7th. You could enjoy looking at the sky, imagining Tanabata’s story.