Holiday at home
hey, though im not in Asia, today is the first tanabata (Qi Xi)! <-- chinese valentines day
Here's the legend :
Theres this lucky bloke named Niu Lang(Chinese)/Hikoboshi(Japanese) who wanders upon seven bathing fairy sisters. Being a pervert, he steals the sisters' clothes and hides, watching to see what happens next. The sisters tell the youngst and most beautiful one of them, Zhi Nu/Orihime, to retreive their clothes from the perverted man. However, after being seen naked, the young fairy is compelled to accept Niu Lang's request in marriage.
As it turns out, the two of them make a very good couple, and live very hapily together. That is, until her parents, who happen to the the supremely powerful royals of heaven, decide that their daughter shouldnt be in love with a mortal (this always happens to us mortals). Her mother thus slices a river through the sky that seperates them forever, except on the 7th day of the 7th month, when a flock of crows (magpies, to be precise) take pity on them and fly up to heaven to form an invisible black bridge between the two that can't be seen by the girl's parents, so that the two can be together for just one night a year.
Unfortunatly, back then the 7th month was August, because of some troubles with the lunar calendar. Therefore some parts of asia celebrate this asian valentines day on July 7th, some on August 7th, some on an arbitrary date in between those two.
In Japan this holiday involves writing your wishes on a narrow slip of paper and then tieing it to a bamboo tree in a very public place (like your school, or a subway station, or a park), and laughing at all the embarrasing wishes that your friends have put up. Because of the general concept of the holiday, most wishes end up romantic, thus there's always some good ones to make fun of.
So, even if your not in japan, make a wish today, don't be afraid to make it very public, and good luck finding love.
Signed,
Daigo
Here's the legend :
Theres this lucky bloke named Niu Lang(Chinese)/Hikoboshi(Japanese) who wanders upon seven bathing fairy sisters. Being a pervert, he steals the sisters' clothes and hides, watching to see what happens next. The sisters tell the youngst and most beautiful one of them, Zhi Nu/Orihime, to retreive their clothes from the perverted man. However, after being seen naked, the young fairy is compelled to accept Niu Lang's request in marriage.
As it turns out, the two of them make a very good couple, and live very hapily together. That is, until her parents, who happen to the the supremely powerful royals of heaven, decide that their daughter shouldnt be in love with a mortal (this always happens to us mortals). Her mother thus slices a river through the sky that seperates them forever, except on the 7th day of the 7th month, when a flock of crows (magpies, to be precise) take pity on them and fly up to heaven to form an invisible black bridge between the two that can't be seen by the girl's parents, so that the two can be together for just one night a year.
Unfortunatly, back then the 7th month was August, because of some troubles with the lunar calendar. Therefore some parts of asia celebrate this asian valentines day on July 7th, some on August 7th, some on an arbitrary date in between those two.
In Japan this holiday involves writing your wishes on a narrow slip of paper and then tieing it to a bamboo tree in a very public place (like your school, or a subway station, or a park), and laughing at all the embarrasing wishes that your friends have put up. Because of the general concept of the holiday, most wishes end up romantic, thus there's always some good ones to make fun of.
So, even if your not in japan, make a wish today, don't be afraid to make it very public, and good luck finding love.
Signed,
Daigo