7/7
Well, today is the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.. In Japan, the holiday is called "tanabata". It is when the milky way is closest to the earth and the two stars, Vega and Altair, finally meet. The story is that the cowboy fell in love with a fairy, but the goddess became angry at this relationship and separated them. Only this one day of the year can they meet. Sometimes this holiday is called the "chinese valentine's day".
My grandma made some homemade sweet black sesame pudding! It is so delicious! She has been sort of lazy in the past years and just bought the inferior instant mix.. I asked her why did she decide to make it herself this year.. She replied saying that it was sold out in the stores! hahaha! Thank goodness for all those other Chinese grandmas grabbing them off the shelves! In the Hoi san dialect, she calls this holiday "The seven sister's birthday".. I could never understand why and I ask my grandma, but she doesn't really give a good answer.. Apparently, there were seven fairies that were bathing in lake when the cowboy came across them!
So, when the sun was setting, my father and I were standing around in our backyard eating watermelon and looking in the sky. Perhaps its the city's light pollution, or our weak eye sight.. we didn't see too many stars.
One really funny thing about this holiday is that Japan celebrates it on the Roman calendar! I was in Japan back in July 7th 2002 when they were having all these tanabata sales! I remember walking around and thinking, "Man, its the wrong day!! How can you celebrate the holiday when the stars are not in the right position?!" hahah... I guess its the thought that counts.. but I keep on forgetting to ask a Japanese person about it..
Oh, and if you are wondering how do I know what are the lunar calendar dates.. well, every new year, many Chinese restaurants and shops give out calendars. Many of the calendars have small Chinese red writing with the lunar days next to the black Roman calendar dates. The first day of the lunar month is a new moon (you can't see the moon). The fifteenth day is a full moon. Since the days are based around the moon, it was very useful for farmers to use when planting or harvesting crops. The next major holiday on the lunar calendar is the "Mid-autumn moon festival", which is the day of the biggest full moon of the year. It occurs on the fifteenth day of the eight month... which translates this year to September 22nd on the Western calendar. Other than that one.. yeah, its funny, but many of the holidays are on days like 1/1, 3/3(hina matsuri in Japan), 5/5, 7/7...
My grandma made some homemade sweet black sesame pudding! It is so delicious! She has been sort of lazy in the past years and just bought the inferior instant mix.. I asked her why did she decide to make it herself this year.. She replied saying that it was sold out in the stores! hahaha! Thank goodness for all those other Chinese grandmas grabbing them off the shelves! In the Hoi san dialect, she calls this holiday "The seven sister's birthday".. I could never understand why and I ask my grandma, but she doesn't really give a good answer.. Apparently, there were seven fairies that were bathing in lake when the cowboy came across them!
So, when the sun was setting, my father and I were standing around in our backyard eating watermelon and looking in the sky. Perhaps its the city's light pollution, or our weak eye sight.. we didn't see too many stars.
One really funny thing about this holiday is that Japan celebrates it on the Roman calendar! I was in Japan back in July 7th 2002 when they were having all these tanabata sales! I remember walking around and thinking, "Man, its the wrong day!! How can you celebrate the holiday when the stars are not in the right position?!" hahah... I guess its the thought that counts.. but I keep on forgetting to ask a Japanese person about it..
Oh, and if you are wondering how do I know what are the lunar calendar dates.. well, every new year, many Chinese restaurants and shops give out calendars. Many of the calendars have small Chinese red writing with the lunar days next to the black Roman calendar dates. The first day of the lunar month is a new moon (you can't see the moon). The fifteenth day is a full moon. Since the days are based around the moon, it was very useful for farmers to use when planting or harvesting crops. The next major holiday on the lunar calendar is the "Mid-autumn moon festival", which is the day of the biggest full moon of the year. It occurs on the fifteenth day of the eight month... which translates this year to September 22nd on the Western calendar. Other than that one.. yeah, its funny, but many of the holidays are on days like 1/1, 3/3(hina matsuri in Japan), 5/5, 7/7...