Make a wish 　願いを込めて

ENTRY

2016.07.06

Hello everyone,

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the “Star Festival” or “Tanabata”. The date of this festival varies by region throughout Japan, but it starts on the seventh day of the seventh month. People celebrate this festival by writing a wish on a piece of paper and tying it to a bamboo tree. The festival is very old, and was introduced to Japan in 755. It originated from “The Festival to Plead for Skills”, which was celebrated in China. Popular customs relating to the festival were that girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. These days, however, you can make a wish for anything. I’ve heard some interesting wishes already! Some of them want to become fluent English speakers. Like with most wishes, if you work hard you can make it come true.

There aren’t any traditions that involve making wishes in Ireland. The closest we have is making a wish when you blow out the candles of a birthday cake. I think that people would work harder towards making them come true if we wrote them down. I like the idea behind the star festival and hope that it spreads further around the world.

I　wonder if any of our students wish to perform their speech well this year. They will be able to start practicing later this month.

Alan

皆さんこんにちは。

明日は七夕(英語ではスターフェスティバル)ですね。七夕の日にちは各地域で違ってきます。しかし始まりは7の月の7の日にちなんです。短冊に願い事を書き、竹に結び付けお祝いをします。
このお祭りはとても古く、日本に入ってきたのは755年だそうです中国で行われていたお祭りが元になっており、昔は、女の子は裁縫やあらゆる技法、男の子は紙に願いを書くことできれいな字を書けるようにとお願いしていたようです。しかし最近ではどんなお願い事でも大丈夫というようになっています