retrospec | sixth evocation ✧ cybele

[This time instead of a text wall, the post is a brief video, also seen on the ReVA Facebook page if you follow that. Minako is featured front and center, wearing a yukata and her hair done up-- the perfect image of Japanese summer. She waves cheerily into the camera.]

Hi everyone! Minako here from ReVA to wish you a happy Tanabata! For those who don't know, Tanabata is a Japanese festival celebrating the folk story of Princess Orihime and the cowherd Hikoboshi. The two lovers were separated by Orihime's father, and were only able to meet on the seventh day of the seventh month, after Orihime wished for a way to be able to see Hikoboshi again. A flock of magpies answered her call and carried her to him, allowing them to meet once a year on that same day from then on. The festival is a time for people to send their dearest wishes to the deities and ask them to be granted, so--!

[She steps to the side, and the camera follows her to show a magnificent bamboo plant set up right in the entrance of the ReVA community center.]

Come by the community center and write down your wish! If you tie it to the bamboo plant, it will surely be received by the gods and be granted. [She points to a little red piece of paper already tied there.] This one is mine. No peeking though, or else the wish won't be fulfilled!

One last thing: there are yukatas like this one available for rental here at the community center. Come try some traditional Japanese summer wear, take some pictures, and eat some shaved ice with us!

[She smiles sweetly and playfully salutes the camera in farewell.]

Thanks for watching, hope to see you soon!

[An extra message for her fellow Retrospeccers has been added below the video.]

it doesn't matter if you believe in the gods or you don't

sometimes writing out a wish is emotionally powerful enough to spur you into working towards it, or for fate to nudge you in the right direction

so, for example, if you need help filling out the bingo tile to "grant a friend a wish", I can help arrange for that here! (✩´꒳`✩)

or if you don't want to make the trek but you okay with posting your wish here so it can potentially be fulfilled, that's fine too

Tanabata is closely tied to Obon, the festival honoring ancestors and lost loved ones, so you guys might see something else from me when that comes up too

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i always thought that story was pretty cheesy
and orihime gets a pretty bum deal
she's a grown woman yknow she shouldn't be basically grounded 364 days a year you get me
at least give her sundays off

that said my family's probably gonna end up swinging by later we all do the tanabata thing
haven't decided what i'm gonna wish for yet though

ahaha folk tales always have a bit of cheesiness in them, but I think that's why most people are fond of them

(agreed about Orihime though, if she was the daughter of a deity you'd think she'd have some kind of magical power she could use to her advantage to get her man)

oh awesome, I'll have to keep an eye out for you guys then! It's rare for a whole family to come out since it's such a lovers associated day

and then when it rains she gets screwed over for the whole year? like she doesn't even get a raincheck
honestly her dad is a real piece of work if i were her i'd make that tapestry hella vulgar
just weave a giant swear word in there

my parents and my sisters all kind of make a day of it though
we write our wishes out eat our shaved ice get some takoyaki and thats that

hahaha pretty sure that would've given him more of a reason to keep them apart

could you imagine them in the modern world though? She could just Skype with Hikoboshi every day if she wanted...problem solved

that sounds like a great family tradition! How would you guys feel about getting photographed for the volunteer association newsletter?

sixth evocation ✧ cybele

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