Tanabata is a japanese festival held on July 7th, the 7th day of the 7th lunar month.Well, basically, it’s a festival where people (usually girls) put their whishes in a piece of paper strip (tanzaku) and hang them in a bamboo tree. Tanabata is originally derived from a Chinese custom and introduced to Japan in the Heian Period.

Story behind it is (if you’re still interested in reading this), that there is this girl named Orihime (vega) from the milky way, she makes cloth and all, fell in love with Hikoboshi (Altair). They got married and lives hapily ever after… NOT. Turned out that Orihime has been neglecting her work of making clothes for his father Tentei (the universe). After that, dad turned furious and seperated those two newlyweds apart and forbade them to see each other. But after 7 days and 7 nights of begging and crying, the poor girl Orihime finally successfully made her dad let them meet every once in a year.

Also, about the sky being clear or not, it is also said that if it rains, the magpies that usually make the bridge for them to cross over the milky way can’t do their job. So the two lovers must wait for the next year to meet.