Today’s wish tradition comes from Japan. Children write wishes on brightly colored paper and tie them to the bamboo branches during their Star Festival, or Tanabata (July 7th). The festival began with a tale of a shepherd and fairy weaver who fell in love, but could only see each other on July 7th of each year. During the festival, the children star gaze for these lovers Altair and Vega, that can be seen in the summer skies.
The kiddos and I talked about Japan, where their cousin Mason lived for a while. They made their own wishes on catalog paper:
- to see Nana & Papa
- to eat strawberries
- to go to grandma’s house
- to see Jesus, Santa, and Peter Pan
- to ride a train
I love bamboo, though we don’t have any, so we hung our wishes on our house plant. 🙂
Dont’ forget to check out the Wish book by Roseanne Thong…beautiful content as well as illustrations:
the daily delights by katrina berg 