The seventh of July is Tanabata, which means evening of the seventh. This day is a festival in Japan honoring the meeting of two deities that are represented by stars. According to the legend, these two lovers are separated by the milky way and can only be together on this night every year. So... yesterday I attended a Tanabata party thrown by some of my friends here!
So in the afternoon I went to my friend's apartment where she invited everyone to go get dressed up for the party in the evening. On the way there, I missed a street I was supposed to turn on so I asked a girl I saw if she could tell me which way to go. She said she did not know the place exactly so she decided to walk with me and find it, even though she had just arrived at her own apartment and it was raining! We were in the same neighborhood so luckily it was not far. Another one of the many acts of kindness I have received while staying in Japan!
At the apartment, we dressed in yukata and got our hair and makeup done. This was a yukata party, so almost everyone, boys and girls, came dressed in yukatas. Yukatas are a light, cotton, summer version of the kimono. Yukatas are very popular apparel for summer festivals, parties, and when you go see hanabi shows (fireworks).
Around 6:30 everyone headed to the place where the party was held. As we walked in they divided us into teams to play games, and we wrote out tanzaku. Tanzaku is a tradition where you write your wish down on a slip of paper and then hang it on a bamboo branch for the night so that your wish will come true.
Next we started the games. First we played an imagination game, where the emcee gave a topic or keyword and the players wrote down the first thing that came to our mind when we think of that word. Then when we are ready we show our teammates, and if any of us wrote the same thing we won points for our team. For instance, given the word "Ghibli," several people on my team wrote down "Totoro." The next game was darts, pretty straightforward. Last we had a senko hanabi race. Senko hanabi are very popular fireworks in Japan. They are very similiar to sparklers because they are small and hand-held, however the flame smolders and produces miniature fireworks until the ball of fire just drops to the ground and is over. So the person whose flame burned the longest won.
Sadly my team did not win the tournament, but we socialized and I made several new friends during the festivities, so it was a great night! Definitely one of my favorite memories of my first trip to Japan.
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