July 1st
taken by a sea turtle
fly to the Milky Way
七月や亀に連れられ天の川
***
Today's entry comes from "Urashima Taro" and "Tanabata".
Urashima-Taro is a popular old story.
Taro Urashima, a young fisherman saved a sea turtle being bullied by children in the beach. The turtle was a daughter of the Dragon God. She took Taro over "Ryugu-jo", a submarine palace of the Dragon God. Taro stays there for three days, when he came back he became an old man standing on the world 300 years later.
Tanabata, literally meaning Evening of the seventh is the Japanese star festival, celebrated on July 7th.
A loving couple, Orihime (vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) became lazy after the marriage. The emperor in the heaven got angry and separated them by putting on each sides of "Amano-kawa", the Milky Way. Once in a year, magpies fly to the Milky Way to make a bridge for the couple to cross the river.
People celebrate the day by hanging small pieces of papers on bamboo. Wishes and poetry are written in the paper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata
Tanabata decorations at a shrine.