Tales around the world (I: Tanabata)

Visiting other worlds

***Listening to: Mad Summer - Joe Hisaishi (I recommend the whole playlist I linked though!)*** 

Greetings! 

In this section I'll tell you about tales from different cultures as I love discovering them myself. I am no expert, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

This story has to do with something that took place last week, and I've unconsciously knew about it since I was a child. As someone obsessed with the spheres I collected books on the matter from a young age. This (and many others haha) was one of the stories I used to read before bed back in the time. I wouldn't completely make sense out of it but it was still cool to me.

Without further ado, *ikuzo!

*Japanese for let's go!

My childhood book containing the story

The lovers who were apart

Tentei, the king of the stars, had a very beautiful daughter, whose name was Orihime. Princess Orihime was a great weaver and created the most wonderful pieces. His father was proud of her but he kept her so busy that she never had time for anything else. Orihime was sad because she thought she would never find someone to fall in love with.

Finally, her father felt sorry for her and chose her a husband. Kengyu was a cowherder that lived at the other side of the river. Orihime and Kengyu married each other and were ecstatic, so much so, that Orihime forgot about her weaving and left it to dust and didn't make another piece at all.

Tentei was angry, as he believed Orihime abandoned her job. Consequently, he decided to separate both lovers and make them live on one side of the river each. But this was no common river (that wouldn't have been a big deal, huh?), because, in fact, this was the river that crossed the realm of the stars. We are talking about the Milky Way. This way, there's no way Orihime and Kengyu can cross it.

Orihime missed Kengyu so much she cried until her tears started dripping and fell to the dress she was wearing. "You'll stain your dress!" Tentei said. "Okay, if you miss your dear so much I'll allow you to see him once a year". 

That's how the king of the stars arranged it so that once per year, on the seventh day of the seventh moon, the waterman of the Moon crosses the vast river to take Orihime to the other shore in order to meet Kengyu.

Regardless, if the princess doesn't weave as she is meant to, Tentei makes it rain so hard that the river overflows and the waterman cannot get to her. When this happens, all the magpies of Japan gather and fly to the river on the sky, making a bridge so that Orihime can walk softly over the feathers of their backs so she can finally reach Kengyu.

And there's nothing his father can do to prevent that.

The end.

The story today

The threads of this little story are still attached to Japan's culture, and to this day it is kept as a tradition. The seventh day of the seventh moon (interpreting the lunar calendar that would be the seventh month, July) there's a *matsuri (*Japanese for "festival") all over the country: its name is Tanabata (this means "evening of the seventh").

Tanabata, also referred to as Star Festival, as with many aspects of Japanese culture, has its origin in Chinese culture. The festival was imported by an Empress in 755 (Heian period), and was initially adopted in the, back then, capital of the land of the rising sun: Kyoto. When it was first recognized in Japan, Tanabata was celebrated only by imperial court officials. It was considered a graceful event, full of the simple elegance so associated with the Heian era of Japan. Lanterns were lighted, and poems were written on mulberry leaves still holding their dew (Nojiri, 1973).

Traditionally, it was an event held in order to "plead for skills". It spread to the majority of the population, therefore, it wasn't the same in every region. However, in general, girls wished for better sewing and craftmanship, and boys wished for better calligraphy skills by writing on strips of paper.

Despite that, these days not the same is done. Like other Japanese matsuri, many outdoor activities are going on that add to the festive atmosphere: you will find many stalls selling food (usually there are typical sets of food selling in the festivals which deserve their own blog entry, but something made for this occasion are Tanabata somen or somen noodles, which are cold noodles with various toppings), providing carnival games, selling bits and bobs (like masks), etc. Today, people (especially children) are more prone to write any kind of wish (quoting my *sensei or Japanese for teacher, for example, something like: I wanna be a Doraemon! :D) on *tanzaku (Japanese for "small piece of paper"), and hang them on a tree or bamboo.

At the end of the night or the day after, they often release the bamboo shoots along with the tanzaku in the river as a cleansing ritual.

Hasimoto Hanano 橋本花乃Tanabata 七夕 - Japan - ca.1930

On my research I also have found this interesting information:

"It is interesting that in some regions of Japan, Tanabata is accompanied by a taboo forbidding swimming or bathing in a river. Noting the relation with the celestial "river" or milky way, the taboo is based on the idea that a Kappa or water deity resides in the river, and one should not make the pure water dirty by entering the water deity's home."

To finish with, there's a reason why rain is pretty significant in the story: rainy season. In most of Japan it takes place from the beginning of June to mid July. Taking other regions into account, Okinawa (southern Japan) gets it one month earlier, and Hokkaido (northern Japan) barely gets affected by it.

A street decorated for Tanabata.

These jellyfish like decorations are streamers that symbolize the weaving done by Orihime.

Behind the story

All these moving images are from this photographer here

And to finish with, and just for curiosity and for the sake of knowledge, we are going to take a look at the names, bits of language, which are very self-explanatory but make one understand the story better just by knowing them and nothing else.

-Orihime--------> Weaving Princess (note that the suffix -hime, used after someone's name, always means princess. In conclusion, -hime is the Japanese for "princess". Example: Skyhime, would mean princess of the sky).
Behind Orihime is the star Vega, which is meant to be her representation, and can be seen around that time of the year.

-Kengyu also, and maybe more well-known as Hikoboshi--------> Cowherder star. I referred to him as Kengyu because this is how "I got to know him". In my book he was called Kengyu what can I say, call him how you like it best :).

The star called Altair is meant to represent him, and is also seen in the night sky those days.

-Tentei---------> it means Sky King or king of the universe itself. In an equivalent way, in Chinese tradition he is Yu Huang or Yu Di (we know him as the Jade Emperor). He is meant to be the first God and he appears in other traditional stories and legends.

-Ama no gawa-------> Ama no gawa is a word I really like. Literally, it means "heavenly river". If you think about it for a second you will realize that the river in heaven is that one composed by stars that we call Milky Way (although to me Via Láctea or Via Làctia sound much prettier than the English and German counterpart; romanic languages reunite!! hahaha). This word is beautiful.

(Okay wait a minute haha, I just noticed that here I am, unfairly comparing a word I know from the languages I learn for no clear reason and deciding which one sounds prettier for the sake of visual and audio aesthetics so I can build a personal "Only pretty words from every language" dictionary. I'll let you know when it's finished okay? Let's all speak the most aesthetically pleasing way possible xD).

Hope you found this informative as well as interesting!

See you soon,

Bertahime :P

PS: Sorry for mixing languages x) Those who know me know that I can't get my mind straight and in oral speech I tend to mix languages otherwise I literally translate them because at that precise moment I don't know the equivalent and it sounds profoundly weird (see: "al final del dia" said to try and mean "at the end of the day" x) ).

References:

http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/orihime.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata

Now this is what I call music (I)

My Canon in D (I am aware this is a terrible drawing done in less than 3 minutes, but I tried to leave my hand freely off my mind as bizarrely and fantastically as I remember it)

Music plays such a huge role in our lives. It has the power to stir and shake our emotions, inspire or simply entertain us. It is one of my favourite things on earth.

Now I'm really concentrating in, perhaps, what I am most passionate about, I'm so blinded by my love for music I'm not even sure if I can be objective here, but here it is.

Overall, I really love art. I think it is the most beautiful way of expressing oneself, and it can be brilliant and overwhelming, especially if it comes from the depths of your soul, and this is not easy: you have to dismantle every layer inside covering your true self and, in order to do that, you need to face memories, thoughts and feelings that the majority prefer to ignore. Perhaps they think it is for their own good, or maybe they just don't realize that these feelings exist, maybe they simply do not care. And they may be right, who knows, there's never an universal opinion.

Basically, the form of art that speaks to me the most is music: I've gotten quite familiar with it now, but I remember when I got into it at the beginning: I started to think, to brood, to ponder about it, every verse, every instrument, every change in the voice of the vocalist (or not), every sound... Honestly, it's been the most exciting and thrilling trip I've ever been on. I've learned and I'm still learning to contemplate music, and that's something I feel blessed about, because it's a skill among maaaany others that not everyone has.

Who hasn't spent hours dancing and performing in their rooms as a teen with their favourite songs playing? It was a great way to get away from it all and it made you feel good! The songs that played were those kind of songs that made you feel like you could take over the world, or simply beautiful songs that you performed while you thought you were all alone, pretending to be in front of thousands of people. Or also those hours you spent just lying on your bed or on the floor simply listening to music; nothing else mattered then. Personally, that's one of my favourite hobbies, to concentrate on the music, and sometimes also thinking while it is playing, imagining. You can get such an indescribably liberating feeling while doing either of those things... Some music makes you feel like you can reach for the sky, and that's priceless.

Oh my, I think it's such a magnificent form of art: the rhythm, the harmonies... (I just see them as I'm writing this!) those things perfectly combined are what make great songs, and great songs can get you through life, through happy or rough times. Music can bring you up when you're down and that's such an important function (that not eeeeverybody is concerned about); so few things have the capacity to impact you as music does.

It can affect the way you dress, the way you behave, the way you think and the way you feel.

Music, particularly has changed the way I see things; it has made me who I am today, and it inspires me in my everyday life.

Almost nothing makes me happier than discovering new great bands or songs; it's something that makes my mind truly blissful and relaxed.

Finding out about a new sound and a new beat that I hadn't identified in a song before is still one of my biggest joys. 

And they say that you must find what makes you happy in life and stick with it.

And with this rather long introduction I introduce a section where I'll talk (write OK) about my favourite songs. I know right!? Such hard decisions!!!! But that's why it is going to be a section and not just a post. It simply wouldn't be possible.

Now this is what I call music (I)

To begin with, I've got a clear idea of which songs are actually the most important in me. That doesn't mean I listen to them all day every day, it just means that when I randomly happen to hear or listen to them they stir EVERY of my inner strings (yes, I'm a violin inside, of course).

When you have attached memories to something it often acquires a special dimension, it's like, it becomes tridimensional or something and then your melancholy may make those past things appear, more, like, unique. This may be what happens to me with these couple of songs.

I'll stop your suffering and mention them before I write about them so that if you wish you can listen to them while reading or something, as you wish. 

1. Canon in D - Johann Pachelbel

A very old sounding version

A more well-known version 

Gosh I love this damn piece! I think it's top (woh!). No but really, it is the song that when I listen to it I see my life flowing in front of my eyes. It's like a fresh breeze that brings a nice floral fragrance while you're sitting on a green open field or meadow or garden, you choose, in Italy, for example. It is warm and there are citrus and apple trees around you. You are watching what comes a tiny beat earlier than the sunset and the shadows create beautiful shapes. You can see the dance of the leaves just by looking at the shadow. You just feel content and admire the magnificent show before you. 

And nothing else is needed.

This song brings back such precious memories of when I was younger. I'll tell you the story of this song in my world:

I was a classical music freak. Especially between the awkward age of 12 and 16 so I thought I had to keep it to myself if I didn't want to be judged (one day at high-school a friend asked me what I was listening to and took my headphone: she pushed it away when she realized what it was, for your information, Vivaldi's four seasons were on at that moment) I would walk down the street with orchestras of violins playing through my ears, it was great. I loved it. And I loved this song a lot too back then.

Going even further backwards we can find my first contact with classical music: as a little child my father would wake up in the morning, go to the living room with his huge CD player, put a classical record on and press play. Shortly after he would come to where I was sleeping to wake me up in an energy and a sweetness that I've never felt again. 

I would excitedly wake up, run to the living room, and ask which song was playing. Some time after I would do the same but instead I'd try to guess the song. Wether I had failed or had succeeded at guessing it, at the end I would sing along with the violins and dance in front of the sofa. And then I would keep humming it while having breakfast.

Fasting forward again to my teens (13-years-old), something very special happened related with this piece.

Now, I have to say I didn't live with my father so we saw each other on the weekends or every 14 days or so. So, one Sunday evening he randomly called me and told me: "Hey Berta, come down in X minutes, we are going somewhere special, you'll see". I was rather confused but he sounded so excited that I also felt so. We took a train, I don't remember anything else of the little trip, I just know we were late for something. Once we arrived to Barcelona all I remember is darkness (it was winter and it was night already) and blurry lampposts light. We run through the streets, I didn't even know where I was, I was just concentrating on following him and not get lost, and then...

We arrived, I couldn't even see the building well then but it was el Palau de la Música de Barcelona (roughly translated as the Palace of Music, I guess). We were in such a hurry I didn't have time to stop and appreciate the interior of the building, nobody was in the hall, and the next I remember is  rushing up some massive central stairs to some upper floor and opening a door to the seatings of the first floor, facing the stage. Then I realized, we were in a classical music concert. He "phewed" at seeing that it didn't start yet, and just as we sat down, the show began. I was still quite out of place but then it started playing: the Canon in D. 

The rest is history.

It was so wonderful and I was so enchanted I couldn't believe it was happening. I cried, during the whole song. It was so beautiful, I just can't even make it justice, I felt like I was floating and all my dreams around me materialized and slowly flew surrounding me like an aura-tornado thing. My imagination just went wild. I was amidst a storm of conflicted feelings and I just, couldn't, hold, myself.

You know, the place was also perfect, just google Palau de la Música and you'll see what a marvelous addition it is to the whole experience (I like it so much I'll write an entry on it so you get to know it).

This easily is my most blissful memory so far.

I just can try and recreate the aura of the time with these words while I completely open my heart here. 

Running under a splendid moon half lost through dark alleys with fairy lights and blurred silhouettes I completely forgot about my worries and about everything at all, I was free and it was magic.

After that, when I got home very late at night I confirmed my decision of starting to play the violin. Can you imagine what a weird feeling I got going to school the next day after that? It was kind of a let-down, I guess, but it also inspired me so much I quietly smiled to myself the whole day, it was like I was inside a bubble among my classmates. 

These days, when I hear or listen to the Canon in D I can still float around. Next and last time I heard it live was in a tiny chamber concert in my trip to Prague 2 years ago in summer. When it played I, unexpectedly, saw myself melting into tears again, and my father said without having an idea of what was going on inside me: "You cry so easily...".

To finish with, I'll confess I was planning to write about my two (yes) favourite songs when I opened this entry, but it has gotten so long that it wouldn't be fair for those of you reading this. So I'll keep it for next entries.

Let me tell you, if you have gotten down here, I salute you, and give you my most sincere thanks for reading one of my most precious memories.

I really hope you have enjoyed.

And I really hope you can enjoy this song as well.

See you soon,

B.

Disclaimer: as this happened many years ago I am conscious my mind might have idealized some bits, but this is how it remains in my mind.

***As I was writing this I was listening to, obviously, Canon in D***

Second coming

I like to draw comics (the image quality loses so much though :'(  )

Hello to you, on the other side of the screen, and welcome here,

This is my fifth attempt at having a blog, "Wait what? Why would you do that?", you may ask yourself. Well, I am just one of those people who have that trait called "perfectionism" so I've spent a lot of time waiting for the perfect thing, timing, instant, illumination... you name it, to strike. As you can see from my last post (2012), there was no such moment. The difference between now and then is that I realized that there's no need for that.

Allow me to introduce myself. I got to the age of 20 this past April. I've had a "blogger account" since 2010, so I was 15. Since then I created some blogs writing about my passions, music being the first one. All of them are deleted therefore gone. I also made sure this place was private so no one would see a thing. I could not keep them up. 

One reason is that I wanted to write about other things too, but I thought that it would be inappropriate to write about, for example, poetry, fashion, art, mythology or folktales, books, or just something I saw on my way back home from school in a music themed space. 

Secondly, I  also panicked at the thought of someone I knew from my surroundings would find my blog and get to know some part of my mind. 

I also couldn't decide which layout looked the best so I gave up because I thought my blog would be an ugly duckling among greatness (I am ashamed to admit that x) )

Long story short, what I was afraid of was judgment. 

But then again those might just have been excuses.

I was young (still am haha) and I couldn't see a lot of things I do now, but to this day I've also lost a lot of my innocence. I've lost the unique perspective of the world I had back then, when everything looks strange and amazing in a weird way. It was kind of cringe-worthy (you know what I mean, seeing yourself in the past haha), although I kind of wish I had kept it. But that's OK, because now I feel like I can provide something.

Moving on to now! I dare myself to expose a little part of my ponders here. You may or may not think "Why would you do it if it makes you anxious?", well if I'm doing it now is because I want to overcome that unjustified fear of judgment. Of course exposing yourself is scary, of course your ideas (writing, drawing, dancing, singing, whatever be) won't appeal to everyone, that's a fact, but that shouldn't pull you back. You're bad at singing but have an awesome time doing so? I say go for it (now when it comes to oneself it's another story). And I won't go dive deeper on this topic now because we all know the drill by now.

Last week I read about perfectionism from a YouTuber I like and she said "good enough is good enough", and everything she said really resonated within me. It may sound somehow "poor" to perfectionists the first time you hear it, but just think about it please.

I am now ready to push my mental demons away, and, just, be. 

If I have to wait for the "perfect idea" or the "perfect moment" I might as well never get started.

Since this post should contain some kind of presentation I'll tell you: 

I have a problem and a blessing; I have an "hyperactive" mind. I am always thinking of doing new things, I am no conformist, I need to learn something everyday in one form or another even if I forget it the next day (did you know that "aphantasia" is a neurological condition where the sufferer literally has no imagination? D:), I love everything new and unknown (so teach me please! :D) and I want to see it or experience it for myself. I may not think about it never again if it doesn't catch my interest at the end of the day, but I'll have to try it first. I like such a broad range of things it's insane.

But this has a drawback: I may start something that will never get finished. Or i might not even start it because I think there's something better out there, and from there I get to be the laziest person ever. Forever procrastinating and not getting to anything at the end of the day. Then getting anxious about everything and nothing at the same time, convincing myself I'm doing nothing else but annoy others and believing that I have nothing remotely interesting for the world, convincing myself that everything's already said and done. Does it make sense? I hope you understand x)



With this blog I attempt to bring you my little picture of this world. Just the way I experience it.


Now, I'm still insecure about the content (and the layout) but I'll sort it out while I try.

You'll get to know more about it as this goes on! I hope you'll walk with me :D

 Disclaimer: I am one of those people who get very personal writing, I've always been told that I write like I am having a conversation with a friend, I don't know why. So even though you are on the other side of the screen, to me, it's like you're in the same room as me.

Welcome!

I'll see you in my next post, okay?

Thank you for reading <3

Mata ne!

B.

***While writing this I was listening to: Kikujiro no natsu by Thirteen from the album A Limited Vocabulary***

PS: Thanks to my beloved Petra from http://puppycake.blogspot.com.es for being an encourager.