The power of 182 七夕 wishes
Good health, a loving and happy family and friends, improving one’s language skills, achieving world peace and equality amongst people, getting more money and sleep, travelling overseas, falling in love, finding a good job, helping others, becoming multilingual, getting good grades and passing a course or exam — these were just some of the ‘bigger’ wishes hung on the bamboo by students and staff at the Language Learning Centre Te Pūtahi Reo during our celebration of the festival of Tanabata from 16th to 27th July.
As was the hope of the organisers, the wishes were multilingual – 99 were in Japanese, 27 in Spanish, 22 in English, 9 in German, 8 in Italian, 5 in Samoan, 3 in Hungarian, 2 in Chinese, and one each in Afrikaans, French, Arabic, and Persian. Besides these ‘public’ wishes, we also had three private ones, and of course we will never know what language those were in!
Despite the diversity of languages and individual aspirations, the themes emerging from the wishes showed unsurprising human commonality – we all long to be happy, healthy, and successful in life, and want the same for our loved ones too. That is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Besides providing an opportunity for self-expression in a learnt language, this event was also an example of the goodwill and help of so many people, both students and staff. Amongst them, a special shout-out is warranted for Paora Douglas, a recent Bachelor of Design Innovation graduate and formerly a student of Japanese. Paora-san offered to combine his skills in design and love of the Japanese language and contribute to the celebrations with a set of one-of-a-kind, laser-printed wooden tanzaku slabs. These are captured in the photos. Arigatō Paora-san, tēnā rawa atu koe!
We have it on good authority that some wishes have already come true – and for those that haven’t yet, best of luck!
The Tanabata event was organised by Yoshie Nishikawa from the School of Languages and Cultures, in cooperation with Language Learning Centre staff, and hosted at the Language Learning Centre Te Pūtahi Reo. All photography by Benjamin Swale.