Japanese Festivals

Japanese festivalsJapanese festivals

Traditional festive occasions in Japan

By Daria

Matsuri ( 祭 )

• It is a word for a festival or holiday in Japanese. Japanese festivals are mainly sponsored by a shrine or temple. Some of the festivals are secular.

New Year ( 正月 Shōgatsu)• 1-3 of January • the most important annual event• people decorate homes,

families gather and visit temples or shrines

• toshikoshisoba - soba noodles are eaten at midnight

• at dawn on the 1st of January, the emperor offers prayers for the well-being of the nation

• people exchange New Year's greeting cards

• games are played to bring good luck

• Koshōgatsu (Small New Year) starts around 15 January when people pray for a good harvest.

Doll Festival ( 雛祭り )

• 3 March • parents pray for the happiness of their girls• girls put on their best kimonos and visit their friends• hishimochi (diamond-shaped rice cakes) and shirozake

(rice malt with sake) are eaten

Hanami ( 花見 )

• flower festivals are held at Shinto shrines in April• flower viewing parties are held• people go on excursions and picnics to enjoy

flowers, especially cherry blossoms

Boy's Day( 子供の日 Kodomo no hi)

• 5 May• Iris is connected with this

festival as a symbol of martial spirit given to boys

• families with male children fly koinobori (carp streamers) and display warrior dolls

• chimaki and kashiwamochi (special rice cakes) are eaten

Tanabata ( 七夕 )

• 7 July• Tanabata was a maiden from a Japanese

legend making clothes for gods • wishes are written on narrow paper strips and

hang on bamboo branches

Bon Festival ( 盆 bon)

• 13-15 August • people honour the

spirits of ancestors, clean grave sites and prepare a path from them to the house

• straw horses or oxen for the ancestors' are prepared

"7-5-3" Festival ( 七五三 Shichigosan)

• 15 November• little boys and girls go

to shrines to pray for safety and healthy future

• children wear traditional clothes

• people buy chitose-ame (thousand-year candy) at the shrine

Ōmisoka( 大晦日 Ōmisoka)

• 31 December• people celebrate passing of the old year and the coming of

the new year• people visit Buddhist temples where bells rung at midnight• zaru-soba (long noodles) are eaten to extend family

fortunes like them

THE ENDTHE END

;);)