Misawa Tanabata 2014

Misawa Tanabata Festival is celebrated every July. The main streets are decorated with colorful paper streamers and all the usual festival food and games are available to enjoy. We ventured out with our new friends, Eric and Ninoosh (and their baby...referred to as Bean). They will be frequent fliers on this blog so get used to seeing their faces!

So what does this festival celebrate? Here's the answer:

Tanabata is a Japanese tradition wherein people write their wishes on tanzaku papers (colorful, small strips of papers) and hang them on bamboo branches. People also decorate bamboo branches with various kinds of paper decorations and place them outside their houses.
It's said that tanabata's origin dates back to more than 2,000 years ago with an old Chinese tale. Once there was a weaver princess named Orihime and a cow herder prince named Hikoboshi living in space. After they got together, they were playing all the time and forgot about their jobs. The king was angry at them and separated them on opposite sides of the Amanogawa River (Milky Way). The king allowed them to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Tanabata literally means the night of the seventh, and it's also known as the star festival. It's believed that Orihime and Hikoboshi can't see each other if the day is rainy, so people pray for good weather and also make wishes for themselves. Depending on regions, it's celebrated on July 7 or August 7 (which is around the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar) in Japan. Many cities and towns hold Tanabata festivals and set colorful displays along the main streets.

Here's a look at our Tanabata evening...

My new favorite beer...too bad it's seasonal!
"Brew of limited summer 2014
for your time of refreshing"

Lots of people wear kimono for festivals. These two
were adorable!

Fried chicken! Yum!

"Frozen" streamers!

More "Frozen."

From one of my favorite childhood books.

Godzilla!

Power Rangers!

It's past my bedtime...

Eric's favorite festival food is takoyaki...chunks of octopus
cooked inside of a dough ball with bits of cabbage and
green onion then topped with sauce, mayo and fish flakes.

I agreed to try one...so did Keenan...
see below for reactions. It did not taste
bad (other than the fish flakes, I've
mentioned before I'm not a fan of bonito
flakes), but Eric picked the vendor with the
largest chunks of octopus and it took
FOREVER to chew!

Choosing a chocolate covered banana.

Wishes written on tanzaku papers.

 Up next: We're taking a 5 month old camping...it's gonna be a long weekend...