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Thali

Next: 7 Jul 2027

Tanabata

The star festival, when Japan eats cold thin somen noodles like threads of the Milky Way.

Shitamachi Tanabata Matsuri
Photo: Laika ac, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What is eaten for Tanabata

Tanabata celebrates the one night of the year when two star lovers, the weaver and the herdsman, can cross the Milky Way to meet. People write wishes on strips of paper and hang them on bamboo. The food of the day is somen, very thin wheat noodles served cold with a dipping sauce. The white strands are said to look like the Milky Way and like the weaver's threads. At the street festivals that go with the day, stalls sell grilled and fried snacks.

The dishes

SōmenCold thin noodles, like the threads of the weaver star.TakoyakiOctopus balls from the festival stalls.YakisobaFried noodles, another stall favourite.
About this page

Written by the Thali desk with AI assistance. Background: "Tanabata" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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