CULTURAL BACKGROUND: Tanabata, or the Star Festival, is held on the evening of July 7th each year. The festival traces its origins to a legend that the Cowherd Star (Altair) and Weaver Star (Vega), lovers who are separated by the Milky Way, are allowed to meet just once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. In the legend, Shokujo, daughter of the sun, wove cloth for the gods with a special machine called tanabata. Ten-kou, the sun god, was worried because his daughter worked every day and did nothing but weave. He betrothed her to a young man who was an honest herdsman on the other side of the vast river (the Milky Way), and they fell in love immediately, spending all their time together. As a result, all weaving ceased and the cows went unattended. Angered, Ken-kou forbade them to see each other except for one day per year, and only on the condition that they worked diligently the rest of the year.

To celebrate the festival, Japanese people write their wishes on narrow strips of colored paper and hang them, along with other paper ornaments, on bamboo branches placed in the backyards or entrances of their homes. Prayers are then made that their wishes will come true.