On the evening of 14th January, a festival called “どんと焼き Donto yaki” will be held at shrines throughout the country:fire:. To be exact, it is called “左義長 Sagi cho”. We will make a big bonfire to bring “歳徳神 Toshi gami (Year God)” born on the New Year’s day to heaven:wave:. Bonfire’s fuel will be New Year’s decoration and old amulet. Because these are God’s old energy, they have a religious meaning to purify it with fire:fire:
In Japan it is thought that fortune lives in new things, old things hinder luck. It depends on the concept of “Reborn” in Japan. The fire means purifying the bad luck possessed by us:fire:. Therefore we believe that we will reborn our luck by warming our bodies with bonfires burning with the energy of God:sparkles:.
It is such a shrine rite to go around a bonfire with a white and thin kimono. In the case of Japanese kimono, white kimono means serving God and the other world. Therefore, we usually avoid white kimono👻
You are the one who experienced Deep Japan @Ivi_Ge
Thank you for the beautiful photos! As you have noticed, it has been handed down entirely differently by region. The method is completely different though the essence is the same. It is a very strange story:shinto_shrine:
As I remember, the Japanese people decorate their houses with ornaments around New Year’s Day, which is to welcome the God of the Year. After using those ornaments, you can’t just throw them away as trash. People take all used ornaments to the shrines or temples on the “Donto-yaki” fire festive day to burn them. Those ornaments belong to the God and you can’t treat them rough, and by burning them we can return to the God up above. This custom is practiced around January 15 every year in all over Japan but maybe it is different region by region.
Me encanta poder leer tus post @YasumiKikuchi , y tener la posibilidad de conocer un poquito de ese Japón tan distante para mí, pero tan cercano cuando traes estos post sobre costumbres y tradiciones de tu hermoso Japón, gracias, seguiré muy de cerca tus contribuciones.
@YasumiKikuchi it seems very spiritual and nice, thank you for sharing this and tagging me!
New Year in Japan is sure celebrated longer than other countries, thank you for all your posts about it. I learned a lot, especially how important luck is in Japanese culture.
Japanese people adjust their minds with a long New Year period. There are many other traditional events, but even those without religious beliefs follow tradition only in New Year:bamboo:
This is another interesting post about Japan that you shared with everyone in the community.
It was so much interesting to learn about Sagi cho festival and the Toshi gami - the Year God.
Do you know that in Bulgaria we also have a festival that resembles a little to this one. I don’t have photos to show you but it is called Sirni Zagovezni and is held at the beginning of the year, between winter and spring time. During this festival people usually ask oldest for forgiveness, during the night they prepare big bonfires and gather around the fire, play dances and most important everyone who wants to clean himself/herself from sickness, bad luck and start the year with cleaned soul, they should jump through the fire and dance around it.
I wish I had some photos of this festival. Your post made me think about it.
I was inspired by your post and looked it up on the internet. Then I was fascinated by the flashy performance that wields their torch and jumps over bonfires:fire:.
Hi @Ivi_Ge , Do you have a picture of Sirni Zagovezni?
. To be exact, it is called “左義長 Sagi cho”. We will make a big bonfire to bring “歳徳神 Toshi gami (Year God)” born on the New Year’s day to heaven:wave:
. Bonfire’s fuel will be New Year’s decoration and old amulet. Because these are God’s old energy, they have a religious meaning to purify it with fire:fire:
. The fire means purifying the bad luck possessed by us:fire:. Therefore we believe that we will reborn our luck by warming our bodies with bonfires burning with the energy of God:sparkles:.
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