star potatoes

The strangest (okay, not the strangest) thing happened yesterday. My lunch was served with star shaped kerage (its like a potato knish). I thought..."oh, how cute. It's Japan. They made stars out of my potato." But then I noticed that in my soup - they had cut the meat into star shapes as well. Hmmm? Well, I guess it's a set meal. But then upon opening my yogurt container, sitting inside were 2 pieces of pineapple cut out in the shape of stars as well.

It was a Wednesday.

I had a sneaking suspicion I was missing out on something.

I asked one of my favorite teachers, "what's with the stars" and she told me it was Tanabata. "Oh. Right.... What does that mean?" She explained...

It is a Chinese story that (apparently) everyone celebrates. A long time ago, there was a princess, Orihime (hime means princess) and a man named Hikoboshi (boshi means star). And they loved each other. The King, Orihime's father, would not allow them to be together. Somehow the young lovers were separated by a river (and I'm guessing a curse). But! On the seventh of July, if it is a sunny clear day, the two can cross the river and reunite. But if it is a cloudy rainy day, the two will remain separated until another chance comes the next year.

So, on the seventh of July, the story goes...Orihime and Hikoboshi are two stars in the sky. And, if it's a rainy, cloudy evening the two stars will not be able to cross the river (or milky way) and meet. But if it is a clear evening sky the two stars will be reunited.

I LOVE a good fairytale. This one is no exception. However, I was also told that July 7th it almost always rains. So I wonder if this fairytale is actually some sort of fable, telling children that most of the time, it won't work out if you try to love outside your "class" (be it age or income or any restriction your culture puts on love). But, the magic within this story is that, every once and awhile, it's a sunny day and the two lovers will be reunited. There is hope. Hope and stars.

This kinda takes the whole, you are what you eat thing, a bit far. But I like it. Oishii!