According to legend, Orihime was the daughter of the Tentei, or Sky King. Every day she wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the heavenly river, the Milky Way. Her father loved the beautiful cloth that she wove so she worked hard every day, but she was sad because she could not fall in love. Seeing this, her father arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (the cow herder star). At their meeting the fell deeply in love and were soon married. However, after their marriage Orihime stopped weaving her wonderful cloth and Hikoboshi did not perform his duty as a cow herder. The Sky King became angry and separated the two lovers, sending them to opposite sides of the heavenly river. Orihime begged her father to let them meet again. He was soon swayed by her sadness and capitulated, saying that they could meet on the seventh day of the seventh month if the princess finished her weaving. Orihime worked hard to finish in time, but they were not able to meet each other because the river was uncrossable. Realizing this, Orihime began to cry. Her tears drew a flock of magpies who promised to make a bridge for the princess to cross the river. The legend says that if it rains on Tanabata the magpies cannot make the bridge and Orihime and Hikoboshi must wait another year to see one another.
Traditionally, Tanabata is a day to write your wish on a colored piece of paper. The wishes and other decorations are tied to bamboo and sometimes set afloat in a river. I have heard that there are several "matsuri", or festivals, throughout Japan and some people visit shrines on this day to make a wish.
It has been raining since last night, so I guess the lovers will not meet this year. Regardless, Tanabata was honored the junior high school today. Kyuushoku today was Tanabata soup with star-shaped vegetables, star-shaped croquettes, and Tanabata Jelly. Students wrote their wishes on colored sheets of paper that were hung as decorations inside the school. Although it doesn't seem like a huge holiday as far as Japan goes, I think that it's an interesting story and a great excuse to hold a festival in the summer!
