Orihime was the daughter of the God of the Milky Way and made people in the universe beautiful garments and kimonos. Hikoboshi was a farmer who looked after all the animals in the universe. They feel deeply in love and spent all their time together. People in the universe started to complain to the God of the Milky Way that their animals were dying and their clothing was falling apart as Orihime and Hikoboshi were no longer spending their time doing this and helping the universe. The God of the Milky Way became angry and banished Orihime and Hikoboshi to the opposite sides of the Milky Way.

Orihime was heartbroken and, after some time, the God of the Milky Way felt sorry for his daughter. He decided that he would allow Orihime and Hikoboshi to meet on one night, 7 July, to celebrate their love.

In recognition of this, Japan celebrates this as a festival. People write wishes on cards called “tanzaku” and hand them on bamboo branches. They also eat a variety of Japanese foods including Somen noodles.

Students studying Japanese at St Patrick’s College celebrated this event with writing their own wishes for the year and eating Somen noodles. We all wish and hope that the rest of the year is enjoyable and that we all achieve our goals for the future.

Julian Nash - LOTE Coordinator