Yesterday was truly a wonderful and unique experience; it was my first festival to attend in Japan. The festival is called the Asama Onsen Taimatsu Matsuri, and it is held in a smaller part of the city just up the road from my apartment. During the festival, large bales of straw are set on fire and carried by teams of people (from elementary school children, adults, and even gaijin like Jesse and I) through the mountainous streets to a shrine where they are burned in a big bonfire. Taiko drums and chanting accompany the procession as it winds its way to the top. Food vendors line the streets with their goods, and little stalls sell toys for children. It is amazing how events like this break cultural bounds; we all laughed and joked together, taking pictures of one another as we enjoyed the festival and all it had to offer.
Ash from the burning bales is considered lucky, and there were many people in the procession who would get their gloves covered in the ashy soot, and smear it on bystanders faces. After our initial "ashing" we were ambushed multiple times by little children who were excited to have the chance to wipe ash on us. It is an experience that I will never forget.
A group of us from 信大
Jesse and I taking part in the festival
Our festival comrades. These guys were awesome.
When ash falls down..
Here is the address for another video I shot last night of the fireworks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNtyXqeMNWo
3 comments:
Ahhhh! That is so cool! I'm jealous of you guys. I'm so glad you had fun!
Thank you. It was a lot of fun and I hope that you will get to experience a festival while you are here studying. Please don't be jealous, you will be experiencing things here soon.
With all of these festivals and sightseeing are you sure your getting any studying done? (just kidding)I'm glad you are having a great time and experience in such a beautiful place.
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