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Next: 7 Jul 2027

Tanabata

Wishes written on paper strips of five colours and tied to green bamboo, for the night two stars meet across the Milky Way.

Shitamachi Tanabata Matsuri
Photo: Laika ac, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The colours of Tanabata

Tanabata, the star festival, tells of the weaver princess and the cowherd, the stars Vega and Altair, who may cross the Milky Way to meet only on the seventh night of the seventh month. People write wishes on tanzaku, narrow strips of coloured paper, and tie them to branches of green bamboo. A children's song names the strips as five-coloured. The five are those of the Chinese five elements: blue or green, red, yellow, white and black, with purple usually standing in for black. Each is linked to a virtue, so some choose the colour to suit the wish. Paper cranes, nets and long streamers are added. In Sendai, which keeps the festival in August, shopping streets are hung with huge streamers of dyed paper.

#E03C31Tanzaku redPaper strip: gratitude to parents and ancestors.
#F6D13BTanzaku yellowPaper strip: trust and friendship.
#3FA65ATanzaku greenPaper strip, for blue-green: growth and kindness.
#6F4AA5Tanzaku purpleUsed in place of black: learning.
#FFFFFFTanzaku whitePaper strip: duty and resolve.
#5E8D3ABamboo greenThe branch the wishes hang from.

Values are fair approximations, not official shades.

Read about the colours

PurpleStands in for black among the five.RedOne of the five colours.GreenBamboo, and the blue-green strip.
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Tanabata" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

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