thumb|right|celebration in tokyo, 2010   is a japanese star festival, originating from the chinese qixi festival. it celebrates the meeting of the deities orihime and hikoboshi (represented by the stars vega and altair respectively). according to legend, the milky way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. the date of tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on july 7 of the gregorian calendar. the celebration is held at various days between july and august. == history == the festival was imported to japan by the empress kÅken in 755. it originated from , an alternative name for qixi, which was celebrated in china and also was adopted in the kyoto imperial palace from the heian period. the festival gained widespread popularity amongst the general public by the early edo period, when it became mixed with various obon or bon traditions (because bon was held on 15th of the seventh month then), and developed into the modern tanabata festival. popular customs relating to the festival varied by region of the country, but generally, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. at this time, the custom was to use dew left on taro leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. incidentally, bon is now held on 15 august on the solar calendar, close to its original date on the lunar calendar, making tanabata and bon separate events. the name tanabata is remotely related to the japanese reading of the chinese characters ä¸å¤, which used to be read as "shichiseki" (see  explanation about the various kanji readings). it is believed that a shinto purification ceremony existed around the same time, in which a shinto miko wove a special cloth on a loom called a  near waters and offered it to a god
August_observances Festivals_in_Japan July_observances Shinto