Also this issue: Goddess Perlman -Lori Hill Hostile City Scooter Club Ralley -Andrew Parks Fight for Your Right to Party -Juliet Fletcher

July 3- 9, 2003

mixpicks

Tanabata Festival

by David Schulman

So get this. There's this weaver and this ox-herder who fall deeply in love, so deeply, in fact, that they decide to stop weaving and herding just so they can be together. For a time things are good, but eventually the spiteful emperor of their ancient Chinese town finds out, turns them into stars and casts them on opposite sides of the Milky Way. What a drag. Fortunately though, they are able to see each other once a year -- an event marked by the Tanabata Festival. Tanabata, or Star Festival as it is commonly known in Japan (which picked up the Chinese legend and incorporated it into its own tradition), is celebrated in Sendai City on the seventh day of the seventh month of every year, and a month later in Hiratsuka City. It marks the joining of the two stars Altair and Vega and is a highly anticipated event. The Japanese House and Garden in Fairmount Park will be holding a similar celebration this Sun., July 6 (which would be the seventh in Sendai City). Colorful paper lanterns and elaborate displays are traditionally placed in homes and storefronts to honor the lovers' reunion, and there is always fierce competition to see who can create the most extravagant display. Festivities will include games, traditional food, miniature tanabata lantern-making, origami, a flea market and more. Tanabata wishes will also be made, written on traditional Japanese paper and hung out on bamboo shoots. Regular tours of the Momoyama-style Japanese House and Garden will also be offered throughout the day.

Tanabata Festival, Sun., July 6, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., $8, Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, 4700 States Dr., Ohio House, 215-878-5097.