Tanabata 2025
July 7, 2025 in Japan
Tanabata takes place on July 07, 2025. Tanabata (meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi. 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. The original Tanabata date was based on the Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is about a month behind the Gregorian calendar.
In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku, small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. This resembles the custom of floating paper ships and candles on rivers during Obon. (With material from: Wikipedia)
More dates:
- Tanabata on Jul 07, 2026 in Japan
- Tanabata on Jul 07, 2027
- Tanabata on Jul 07, 2028