1. By Samantha Wong 8B Tanabata 7 th of July

2. The reason the people celebrated this festival was to pray to the god for protection of rice and crops from rain and storms. Reason of the festival

3. History of the festival Once there was a weaver princess named Orihime and a cow herder prince named Hikoboshi. When the two met, they fell in love with each other and married. After they were married they were playing all the time and forgot about their jobs. Orihime’s father, the king was angry at them and separated them on opposite sides of the Amanogawa River. The king only allowed them to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar.

4. How the festival is celebrated On July 7th the people of Japan write their wishes on strips of paper and tie them to a tree or a bamboo branch placed in the backyard or in the entrance of their homes hoping that the lovers will grant them their wish.. The most common Star Festival decorations are colourful streamers. Streamers are said to symbolise the weaving of thread together.

5. Interesting facts 1.The Japanese have been celebrating the star festival for more than 2000 years 2.The star festival is celebrated mostly by children 3.Most common wishes have changed over time from better sewing, craftsmanship and handwriting to material goods such as love lives and video games.

6. Bibliography Tanabata. Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata. 10 of August Tanabata, Japanese Star Festival (online) http://www.lbcma.org.uk/festivals/Mtanabata.asp 10 th of August http://gojapan.about.com/cs/japanesefestivals/a/t anabata.htm 10 th of August