Tanabata 七夕

Yesterday was Tanabata, and because everyone likes to make a wish, I thought I'd share a little bit about this holiday. Basically, the stars of Vega and Altair meet in the sky only one night a year, and they represent star-crossed lovers separated by the river of the Milky Way. There are some lovely legends about the story, which you can read about on the Wikipedia link above (I couldn't find a reliable web source with any length of information, so we'll have to go with wiki on this one, it seems pretty accurate). I think the stars actually meet on 7/7 of the lunar calendar, so the holiday is celebrated in July in some places and August in others. At some point in history the story spread from China to Japan, where it became a festival for the general public, and the thing to do on Tanabata is to write a wish on a slip of paper and tie it to bamboo. Well, I don't have any bamboo, and didn't feel like wandering the neighborhood in search of some, so I substituted by writing my wish on a piece of paper and wedging it into my houseplant. I'm also going to interpret the holiday in a modern way by recycling the paper instead of burning it. Seems like a good enough substitute, ne? There was a big festival in Hiratsuka (sister city to Lawrence, KS!) over the weekend, but I didn't find out about it until yesterday. Ah, well, I hope my wish comes true anyway.