pens-swords-stuff:

pens-swords-stuff:

7/7 is Tanabata, a Japanese holiday and festival based on an old legend.

Orihime (The star Vega) is the daughter of Tentei, the King of all the heavens. She weaves clothing on the banks of the Amanogawa (The Milky Way. In Japanese, it literally translates to the River of the Heavens). Day in and day out, she wove clothing for her father, putting a lot of love and effort into her craft.

Orihime worked so hard every day that she never had the opportunity to meet anyone and fall in love. Tentei heard her concerns and sorrows, so he introduced her to Hikoboshi (The star Altair), the Cowherd, who lived on the other side of the Amanogawa. 

Orihime and Hikoboshi fell in love and got married. They were so smitten with each other that they spent all of their time together.

However, because they spent all of their time together, Orihime and Hikoboshi neglected their duties. Orihime stopped weaving clothing, and all of Hikoboshi’s cows strayed all over the heavens because he wasn’t herding them.

This angered Tentei, and he separated the couple by putting them back on opposite sides of the Amanogawa river.

The separation was extremely hard on Orihime, and she begged her father to be able to see her husband again. Tentei said that as long as she got all of her work done, she could go see him once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month.

When she got to the Amanogawa on the promised day, she was distraught to find out that there was no bridge connecting to the other side of the river. Orihime sank down on her side of the river and sobbed. 

Her tears attracted a flock of magpies, and they formed a bridge over the river with their wings so Orihime and Hikoboshi could meet.

According to legend, if it rains on July 7th, the promised day of Tanabata, the magpies won’t be able to go to Orihime and Hikoboshi because the rain will make the river rise. Then Orihime and Hikoboshi will have to wait another year to meet.

Every year for Tanabata, we pray for the weather to be sunny so that the couple are able to see each other.

Other Tanabata customs include writing wishes of tanzaku, small strips of paper. We hang them on bamboo trees so that they may come true. Often times, the bamboo trees are burned after the festival, or put in the river to float away.

Decorations are a huge part of Tanabata,and people often do origami to make cranes, chains of paper, and other creations to celebrate.

The celebrations also vary by region but for the most part there is usually some sort of Japanese festival to celebrate, and eating cold somen noodles. It’s said that the thin, white noodles look like the Amanogawa, and symbolizes Orihime’s weaving. Some people say it’s also a wish for a healthy summer. Known as Tanabata somen, it’s special because the food is also decorated. Vegetables, eggs, hams, or other foods are cut into star shapes to represent the stars of Orihime and Hikoboshi.

There’s also a song for this festival, called Tanabata-Sama!

May all your wishes come true on this Tanabata day, and may Orihime and Hikoboshi see each other this year due to sunny weather!

Happy Tanabata!

mandaloriandragontrainer-deacti:

2020 has the same energy as that scene in Hercules where all the old people are gathered around the well casually discussing the various calamities befalling the city.

rookfern:

• The chorus of frogs start up in the dead of January. One night, they are silent. The next, they are all screaming. There are some cold nights when something else screams with them.
• You stumble across a crumbling shack in the woods. Moss layers the walls, and the roof is more pine needles than shingles. Faintly, you can hear scratching from the inside.

  The small windows are barred up for a reason.

• No one questions the yips and howls of the coyote packs. Leave them alone. Don’t look them in the eye. Be in by sundown. You catch a glimpse of their eyes in the moonlight some nights. Nothing stares back at you.
• One day, you hear a ghost story. Some old settler’s cabin haunted by a girl that died in the well. You’ve forgotten the tale by the next morning, but when you walk past that old house, you feel eyes on your back. This town has no ghost stories.
• If you listen close enough to the winds, you can hear sobbing. Don’t worry, they tell you, They don’t remember why they’re crying anymore.
• Some parts of the forest are dead quiet. The ground is soft and warm, and all you want to do is lay down and sleep. Lie down. Some day, you’ll wake up.
• The mountains are always quiet, but they’re quietest during a storm. The ground hums, and every leaf and rock seems alive. The silence is deafening. Be sure not to listen too long.
• You drive up the curving highway until your ears are in agony and the world is submerged. The road stretches on, crowded by tall trees on each side. Two hours later, you pass the mile marker. You are not sure where you are going. Only up.
• In autumn, the empty back roads come alive, and people writhe out of the foothills like angry ants. They march up the hill and into the plots of craggy trees with a palpable determination. The apple houses stand silent and judging behind them. You cannot remember any of their faces.
• A shot rings out. It sounds so close yet miles away. It echoes off the mountains, and the noise is all you can hear. You don’t know where the gunshot came from. You just hope they don’t see you. Deer aren’t the only thing they are hunting.
• On the highway, you pass roadkill after roadkill. Some stretch on for miles in red streaks. Others are indistinguishable shapes. There are some that still twitch. They watch you with desperate hope as you fly past.
• Everyone knows you by name and greets you with a smile. You’ve never been to this town before.