THE PRINCESS AND THE PASTOR - ASIAN LEGEND (QI XI, TANABATA)

The Jade Emperor (China) / heavenly God Tenkou (in Japan) had a daughter named Zhinu ("the weaver girl" in China) / Orihime ("Princess of tissues" in Japan), which often depicted weaving colorful clouds in the sky and in the Japanese version of this legend, he works with a loom called Tanabata, next to a river in the sky called Amanogawa, the Milky Way.


One day weaver princess met a modest shepherd named Niulang (China) / Kengyu (Japan). Both, to be seen, fell in love crazy and passionately, to the point where the two lovers began to neglect their duties to be together. This made the Jade Emperor / heavenly God is enraged Tenkou while prohibiting them look more and placed each one in a different river from heaven, that is, the Milky Way.


The princess, very sad, begged his father to see his beloved again. Finally, this took pity and allowed the lovers to meet again on a bridge over the river once a year, the seventh night of the seventh month. But this only happens if the Jade Emperor / heavenly God is pleased with the work of his daughter and does not rain that night because otherwise not be seen until next year.




People wearing yukata in Japanese festival of Tanabata.
The story is the mythological explanation for a phenomenon that can be observed in the sky. The star Vega is located east of the Milky Way and the star Altair is west. However, during the first lunar quarter (seventh day) of the seventh lunar month (around July / August), light conditions make the Milky Way appear dimmer, as if a bridge joined the two stars.


FINISH