Tanabata ("Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star 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. This festival is celebrated every year on July 7 (or August 7 in some places). If you want to learn more about Tanabata, click here.
SN's nursery i.e. Kinomi Hoikuen(nursery) held the Tanabata Festival on the 9th July 2011 (hari BERSIH di Malaysia). During the Tanabata festival sprigs of bamboo, sometimes small and sometimes the size of a tree, are hung with tanzuku, papers upon people write their wishes. When this time of year comes around, people write their wishes on strips of paper and hang them on bamboo trees, along with decorations.
Kids were dressed in yukata/jinbei . A jinbei, is a traditional Japanese clothing and are usually worn as a form of nightwear or house wear. Sometimes jinbei are used as substitute for yukata during a summer festival, typically by men and boys. A yukata is a Japanese garment, a casual summer kimono usually made of cotton. People wearing yukata are a common sight in Japan at summer events.
Like other Japanese matsuri, there are few stalls sell food, provide carnival games, etc., to add to the festive atmosphere at the nursery on the festival day.
The stalls were run by the teachers and the parents association. Actually I was given the task to be at the juice stalls and helped selling it during the event. But due to some miscommunication on my part, I didn't took part at the stalls. *miscommunication sebab I yang tak faham nihon-go kui3*.
The event started at 4:30p.m until 8 p.m. My little baby was not in good mood that day as he didn't sleep during his afternoon nap time. Thus, in the evening he was a bit restless, tired and moody. Plus, the weather was quite hot on that day and SN was heavily sweating. It was quite unusual to see him being that moody because usually he is a cheerful boy.
At 6 p.m; the stalls were closed down and the front yard area was cleared for the performances by the children and teachers. SN is in Sakuranbo (cherry) class, and his class were the first one to make the performance on that day. They were dancing the Ocean Dance with the class teacher.
SN was still not in good mood during the performance, so he just stood still and watch his teachers and friends dancing. Only when the performance is almost over, he moved his body a little bit which doesn't looks like any dance movement at all, but at least he moved....OK lah kan?. Every children were then given a bag of gift as a token of appreciation for their performance.
+- (video) : persembahan SN dan kawan2 sekelas -+
The last performance was a sketch based on a famous Japanese children stories entitled したきりすずめ、Shitakirisuzume (The Sparrows' Inn). Read the stories below.
Very long ago, in some place there was an old man and an old woman.
Every day the old man goes out to the mountain to cut firewood.
One day, the old man left his lunch hanging on a tree, and chunchun a sparrow approached.
"Oh, it is a delicious looking meal". The sparrow secretly dove into the lunch bag.
"Yare, yare, I'm hungry." (the old man said)
The old man stopped working, he tried to take the lunch bag, and (found) the sparrow sleeping with its head stuck out of the lunch bag.
"Yoshi, yoshi, I also feed you."
Do you know what happened when the old man opened the bag?. The sparrow had already made a hearty meal of the lunch, and was fat as a ball.
The old man took the sparrow back home. The sparrow was quite cute, and chirp chirp, it never left the old man's side.
The old man named this sparrow Ochon, and raised her with great care.
It was a day of good weather. The old woman was cooking starch, gutsugutsu, on the fireplace. "Old man, please go quickly to work."
"But, Ochon is so cute..." The old man picked Ochon up in his hand and did not part from her.
"Crap!, you only love the sparrow." the old woman said angrily.
So the old man reluctantly parted with Ochon and went out to the mountain to work.
"Ochon, watch the starch closely so that the cat doesn't eat it." The old woman went to the river to wash clothes.
The starch cooled down nicely, and looked quite delicious. Ochon could no longer resist and ate the starch. The old woman came back, and there was no starch in the pot.
"Ochon, what happened to the starch."
"The cat ate it."
The old woman looked at the cat's mouth and did not see any starch there. But on Ochon's mouth there was a lot of starch.
Ochon hurriedly licked, but it was too late.
"You ungrateful thing!" The old woman was angry and she cut Ochon's tongue with scissors, and drove her outside.
The old man wanted to see Ochon and when the work finished he hurried back. But Ochon's figure was not there.
"Old woman, what happened to Ochon."
" She ate the starch, so I cut her tongue and did the favor of driving her out."
"What! Such a cruel thing..." . The old man poroporo shed tears. For a while he was looking miserable, but when he thought of Ochon he was not able to be still.
"I am going to search for Ochon."
Sparrow Ochon which way did you go?
Cut tongue sparrow which way did you go?
While calling with a trembling voice the old man went walking sadly.
And then a cow washer was washing a cow in the river. "Mr. cow washer, Mr. cow washer, haven't you seen cut tongue sparrow?"
"I saw I saw. But, unless you drink three buckets of water used to wash the cow I won't tell you."
The old man patiently drank that water.
"Then you had better ask the horse washer over there."
--
He went for a while and, a horse washer was washing a horse in the river.
"Mr. horse washer, Mr. horse washer, haven't you seen cut tongue sparrow?"
"I saw I saw. But, unless you drink three buckets of water used to wash the horse I won't tell you."
The old man patiently drank that water. "Then you had better ask the greens washer over there."
--
Once again he went for a while, and The greens washer was washing Japanese raddish in the river.
"Mr. greens washer, Mr. greens washer, haven't you seen cut tongue sparrow?"
"I saw I saw. But, unless you drink three buckets of water used to wash the raddish, I won't tell you."
The old man patiently drank that water.
"Then you had better go to the bamboo grove over there."
--
Cut tongue sparrow which way did you go?
Sparrow Ochon which way did you go?
The old man entered into the bamboo grove, and From a hole in one thick bamboo there was a sparrow's voice.
"Old man, or old woman?"
"This is old man this is old man."
"Then please enter without delay."
The old man peeped into the hole in the bamboo, and In a moment his surroundings became dark, and he lost consciousness
--
Ha! he regained consciousness, and the old man was sitting in a magnificent drawing room.
"Old man, welcome."
Sparrows wearing pretty kimonos were carrying delicious food and singing songs. The old man forgot the passing of time and was charmed.
When the old man was about to return, the sparrows brought two wicker baskets.
"Old man, this is a gift. Which to you want, the heavy basket or the light basket?"
"I am old so the light one is good."
The old man returned home and opened the basket,and guess what happened. It was full of large and small gold coins.
"Wow, old man, where did you get it."
"I received it from the sparrows." The old man told the old woman today's story in detail.
Immediately, the old woman said, "What a fool you are. Why didn't you bring the heavy basket. Alright, I am going."
--
Cut tongue sparrow which way did you go?
Sparrow Ochon which way did you go?
The old woman shouted and from the hole in the bambu there were sparrows voices.
"Old man, or old woman?"
"This is old woman this is old woman."
"Then please enter without delay."
She regained consciousness and without knowing when it happened the old woman was sitting in a drawing room. And then sparrows wearing kimonos brought tea in a chipped cup.
"I don't want such a thing as tea. Give me the wicker basket right away." The old woman put the heavy basket on her back and quickly left.
But the basket was heavy and the old woman staggered over there, and staggered over here. Finally, she came out of the bambu grove and she couldn't walk even one step more.
"While taking a rest around here shall I try and peek in?"
The old woman took off the basket, and quietly opened the lid.
"Gyaaa!" The old woman jumped up. Surprisingly from within the basket one after another snakes and centipedes and other things came out and bit and stung the old woman to death.
It was nice to see how sporting the teachers were to dance and make a performance for the crowd.It's good to see that Japanese people still appreciate the Traditional Japanese Children's Stories and narrated it to the younger generation in a more creative way.
We called the day off at 8 p.m. Hubby and I treasure the experience of celebrating the Tanabata Festival at SN's nursery despite SN being moody on that day. As for me, I really enjoy watching all the kids that are looking so kawaii (cute) in their yukata/jinbei dress. Super duper chomeyl!.
Psssssttt: geram nak cubit2 pipi anak2 Jepun ni, putih2 gebu2 semua. Anak I je yang kaler coklat sikit eheh.
18 words of wisdom & comments:
coman2 blako gewan SN tu... kawaii ne, bakpola mummy sn tok paka yukata jugopnyooo...
comel2 anak japong ni..geram tgk kan..hee...aa sn dah last2 baru nk menari ye..awal2 malu kot tu..hihi..
meriah je matsuri nih..mcm bestt.heee
sgt kawaiii :) suke!
alahai, semuanya comel2..nasib ada translator
comei jah sumo. Takpoa Nazhan coklat sikit sbb dio boy. macho sikit.
gelak sendiri tengok sensei dia yang beriya..
p/s : betul ke cikgu tadika pon panggil sensei yatie?
Subhanallah..memang comel2 anak2 Jepun ni..muka akak pun sepet2 ala Jepun tapi xdelah comel cam diaorang..yg sedan2 sahaje...:)
peluh rejak SN. sian ke dia, tp tetap hensem.
yatie, mahal ke yukata / jinbei utk budak2? wat business la yatie, jual utk baju raya ke hihi. 1st customer ada dah ni, angkat tgn nih. haih, tgk gmbr ni mari angin nak beli spsg ke anak dara ambo, tp kalo murah2 jah la hehehe
comelnya budak2 tu
Hanis >> mommy nok pkai tp malu puloklagi over dr ore jepun..or ejepun pun x pakai hihihi
anum >> mmg matsuri kat nursery selalunya best sbb utk budak2 kan
huda >> geram kan tgk diorang?
nieda >> tu la, trasnlator tolong cerita pasal lakonan cikgu dan tarian budak2 tu :)
k/nur >> nok pakai fair & lovley la ko Nazhan hehe
dbalkis >> aaah cikgu tadika pun panggil sensei jugak
UA >> org jepun pulak suka tgk mata SN sbb diaorang cakap mata dia bulat. kita pulak suk tgk mata diorg yg sepet hehe
oyis >> tahun lepas ado ore buat jualan yukata tu..tahun ni kalu ore jadi kelik malaysia, ore buat pulok la jualan tu
nadiah >> semua comey2 kan :)
wahhh!!! sangat2 happeningg..! comel2 tengok kids pakai yukata... colourfull dan meriahhh!!!
Kat Mesia pun baru je lepas Bon Odori sabtu lepass..biasa buat kat Matsushita Sport center Shah alam. k.izan pun tak pergi tahun ni.. tak laratt uhuhuhu
esok2 dah balik Mesia leh ajak baby SN datang bon odori kat sini plakk ;)
1) lucu la SN x sey joget pun mulo² tu..kerah jah duk tgh² hahah malu dpn crowd kot
2)ngelast² tu br napok kaki gerok gedik² hihihi
3) awok guno s/w gapo edit vdo? eli x ajin² nk explore..sedap pulok tgk siap ado "subtitle" hihi
k/izan >> aah, harus lah join odori kat malaysia nanti bila dah balik for good
eliza >>
1) & 2) x tahu la malu ko ataupun sbb bad mood ngantuk
3) x guno s/w gapo2 pong. edit di youtube jah, lepas upload tu ado button untuk annotation/subtitles..ore buat situ jah. cepat & pantas..try la deh hehe
oooo wat kat youtube jah..x ajin try tuh..bereh², nati sy try etep..tq awok!
geram! sgt comel dorang dlm kimono!
eliza >> selamat mentry hehe
US >> tu la, terus ras ank suruh SN pakai jinbei tiap2 hari hik3x
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