Summer Festival: Tanabata

July 7th is a Summer Festival Holiday called Tanabata.

Story goes something like this.

A celestial maiden, Tanabata, comes to earth and while bathing in a pool, a man steals her heavenly robes. Thus, she cannot return to heaven. Sad. So Tanabata ends up marrying the guy. One day, she finds her robes! DUN DUN DUN! So she puts them on and returns to heaven.

Dude is sad.

But Tanabata told him that if he made 1,000 straw sandels to prove his love AND planted them around a palm tree, he would be able to see her again. So he made A LOT of sandels but unfortunately, he lost count. So when he planted them around the tree, the tree grew ENORMOUSLY and rose up far into the sky.

Dude climbed the tree and realized he was ONE SANDEL short. So he called out to Tanabata and they were reunitied. Awwwwwww.

But wait, the god of the stars is most displeased his daughter should be with a mortal. So he tells the man to tend the heavenly fruit garden, but may never eat anything. The dude is MORTAL: he's gotta eat. So he gives into temptation and then WHOOSH, the Milky Way comes between him and Tanabata, and they are forever separated. Sad awwwwwww.

However, these two can be seen in the sky as the stars, something and something else, and once a year, July 7th, they can be seen opposite each other from across the Milky Way. How sweet.

The End.



I met friends in front of the train station to attend the festival together. However, there were SO MANY people there, I could only get shots by looking up.
The sign says "Shimizu Tanabata Festival". I live in Shimizu in case you forgot.



A picture portraying the folk tale.



It's tradition that people write wishes on slips of paper and attach them to bamboo, symbolizing the wish to be reunitied and the role of the palm tree.
Honestly, if I were a star-crossed lover, the last thing I would want to do would be to read the wishes of other people on the ONE DAY I get to be with my soulmate. Just a thought.



More decorations featuring a beloved anime "Sazae-san".



After, friends and I went to the beach to enjoy some fireworks.
Yuuzo



Laura and Eri.


And just because it looks cool.