Tanabata July 7

It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented respectively by the stars Vega and Altair). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers and they are only allowed to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies depending on the region of the country, but the first festivities begin on July 7 of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration takes place on different days between July and August.

Like Qixi and Chilseok, Tanabata took inspiration from the famous folklore story Chinese, “The Cowherd and the Weaver”. Some versions were included in the Man'yōshū.

The most popular version is:

Orihime (織姫, "Weaver Princess"), daughter of the Tentei (天帝, "Sky King", or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes on the banks of the Amanogawa (天の川, "Milky Way", literally “heavenly river”). Her father loved the fabric she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that due to her hard work, she would never be able to meet and fall in love with anyone. 

Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星, "Cowman"/"Cowherd Star", or literally "Boy Star") (also called Kengyū (牽牛)) who lived and worked at the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they instantly fell in love with each other and got married soon after. However, once married, Orihime would no longer weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi let his cows roam all over Heaven. 

Angry, Tentei separated the two lovers on the other side of the Amanogawa and forbade them from meeting. Orihime became despondent over the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter's tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. 

Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come because of the rising river and the two lovers must wait another year to meet. This day's rain is called "The Tears of Orihime and Hikoboshi."

The festival was introduced to Japan by Empress Kōken in 755. It originated from the "Festival for Pleading for Skill" (乞巧奠, Kikkōden), an alternative name for Qixi which is celebrated in China and was also adopted in China. Kyoto imperial palace from the Heian period.

The festival gained popularity among the general public in the early Edo period, when it mixed with various Obon or Bon traditions (because Bon was held on the 15th of the seventh month at the time), and is developed into the modern Tanabata festival.

Folk customs relating to the festival varied in different parts of the country, but generally, girls desired better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys desired better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. At that time, the custom was to use the dew left on taro leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. Incidentally, Bon now occurs on August 15 on the solar calendar, close to its original date on the lunar calendar, making Tanabata and Bon separate events.

The name Tanabata is remotely linked to reading Japanese Chinese characters 七夕, which were formerly read as "Shichiseki" (see the explanation on the different kanji readings). It is believed that a Shinto purification ceremony existed around the same time, in which a Shinto miko wove a special cloth on a loom called a tanabata (棚機) and offered it to a god so that he prays for the protection of the rice crops from rain or storm. for a good harvest later in autumn.

Little by little, this ceremony merged with Kikkōden to become Tanabata. The Chinese characters 七夕 and the Japanese reading Tanabata joined to mean the same festival, although originally they were two different things, an example of jukujikun.