Tanabata

Tanabata, the Japanese star festival celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month, provides the subject for this 1912 color woodcut. The festival commemorates the annual meeting of the celestial lovers Orihime (the weaver star, Vega) and Hikoboshi (the cowherd star, Altair), separated by the Milky Way for the rest of the year. Earthly celebrations involve writing wishes on strips of colored paper (tanzaku) and hanging them from bamboo branches. Lum's print likely depicts some aspect of these festivities — the decorated bamboo, the gathering of celebrants, or the wistful romance of the story itself. The festival's combination of celestial mythology and everyday celebration aligned perfectly with Lum's interest in the places where folklore intersects with lived experience.