Also known as: Festival of the Weaver, Weaver Star Festival

A festival held on July 7th celebrating an ancient Chinese legend, in which Altair (the Cowherd Star) and Vega (the Weaver Star), who were divided by the River of Heaven (the Milky Way) come together for this one night of the year. On this day people decorate the branches of a bamboo with colored strings and strips of paper on which poems or proverbs have been written. The Tanabata Festival is most famous in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture and Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.