Tanabata Festival

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject: Tanabata Festival

I've just been reading about Tanabata Festival, a traditional Japanese star festival where people write their wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on pieces of paper and hang them from bamboo or from trees. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day.

I'm quite struck by that idea and wondered if anyone would be up for sharing a virtual Tanabata by hanging your wish on a tree, photographing it and posting it here.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject: Tanabata Festival

I've seen the wishing tree at several festies; Waveform, Shambala & Sunrise spring to mind... or... maybe i just saw it many times at one festival? meh
One similar that i definitely did see was at sunrise & it involved writing down your past-life/problems and then burning them. I thought this was rather lovely symbolism, although i prefer to hang on to mine & stoke the bitterness... Twisted Evil

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject: Tanabata Festival

Although i'm liking the: "Trash Bag (くずかご; Kuzukago) : Cleanliness and unwastefulness" decoration from the Sendai Tanabata festival. hehehe (and thinking of Jedi Joel - mucky boy) Could do with 'unwastefulness' wishes for the festies this year.

Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:04 pm Post subject: Tanabata Festival

When I went to the parade of lost souls in Canada one year, people were encouraged to burn their fears which I enjoyed muchly yes

That wishing tree annoys me. It was a nice enough idea at the beginning when it was new but it's more than done the rounds and it's just not fun anymore, just ugly and irritating and you can't read half the things anymore anyway. That's why I want to share photographic wishes. I also think people would give their wishes more thought if they planned to take a picture of it.