Almost Time for Sendai's Largest Summer Festival! 🎋👘
Added 2022-07-28 10:56:15 +0000 UTC🎋Sendai Tanabata "Star" Festival🎋
The Tanabata festival was originally held on the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar (July 7th). According to legend, Orihime (represented by the weaver star) and Hikoboshi (the cow-herder star) were set to marry, however they began to neglect their duties and this angered the bride's father so he banished them to opposite ends of the milky way. For one night only, July 7th, the lovers are allowed to meet.
This is still the date that the Tanabata Festival is celebrated in most parts of Japan, but here in Sendai it has been moved to August 7th in order to keep the summer seasonality of the festival (July is now rainy season which isn't ideal festival conditions).
Sendai has the most well-known Tanabata Festival in the entire country, and is famous for its gorgeous handcrafted decorated bamboo poles that flow through the downtown streets. Businesses around Sendai will spend months crafting their bamboo pole, and keep the design a secret until they are displayed in the city on the morning of August 6th.
You've only got a short time to enjoy the bamboo decorations however, because they are all taken down on the 8th and won't be seen ever again because each year features brand new ones!
There are 7 types of decorations that you'll see during Tanabata, each one with a different meaning:
It is common for everyone to write a wish on a paper streamer "tanzaku" and tie it to a bamboo pole.
I've been wanting to attend the Sendai Tanabata Festival for soooo many years now, and was actually all dressed up and ready to go last year but a certain boyfriend decided to sprain his ankle last minute and our plans were cancelled 🙃 There will be no ankle spraining this year, I will tie him to a chair until it's time to go if necessary😂
Here is the yukata and obi (belt) I've chosen to wear this year! Now I just need to figure out how to put it on, it's been a while!
