02/01/2022
Kurabu, Ayaka
Happy New Year, citizens of Karakura! Ayaka Kurabu reporting here!
On the 2nd of January, the Monastery held a festival to welcome the new year! The shrine was decorated with ornaments and three fish balloons hung from the mountain! It is beautiful, and we have the shrine maidens and workers to thank for it!
They had four booths in total, there were two that had free items, a booth next to the dojo held mochi and the booth next to the main building had Sake for adults. In the lower part of the Shrine, there was a small shop to sell Omamori and lanterns.
The main building was offering prayers, prayer help, and accepting offerings. There had also been plans for the Miko’s to dance, but due to short staffing that sadly didn't occur.
Let's dive into how important this festival really was to Shinto and what religion is about!
Shinto is an optimistic faith, as humans are thought to be fundamentally good, and evil is believed to be caused by evil spirits...That means that the rituals that Shinto followers do are to keep those evil spirits away by purification, prayers, and offerings to the Kami. The Kami are the ‘Shinto gods’. They are sacred spirits that take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers, and fertility. It’s believed that humans become Kami once they pass and are revered by their families as ancestral kami.
Towards the end of the event, they set off beautiful fireworks, they truly were a sight. Each was colorful and a different shape. I was sent a few photos of it, as well as took my own! I’ve collected them into a small college.
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