It's Setsubun time!
one of the only times i've used my snowboarding gear this year has been to go to the Festival of Armed Priests at Housenji Temple just outside of Shinjuku.
all the folks of the church who were born in the same zodiac as the current year (in this year's case, the mouse) get to dress up in these super cool outfits and participate. here's a shot of the preparation:
This homeboy is ready to rock and roll!
there was a beautiful raked sand garden adjacent to the temple. very zen!
and here they come to brave the cold!
they all got to sit in this special tent area to observe the festivities. they didn't do much but pray.
this fella on the left performed the ceremony. the dudes in the bright green did the loud song like praying, leading the chorus of sitting dudes on the right. it's tough to see them but there are guys standing in the corner of the tent blowing conch shells. very old school.
main dude lights the very wet branches in the fire pit area:
he blesses the offerings for consumption:
now we're cooking! they stoke the fire with these wooden sticks that people buy and write their wishes for the new year on. there were LOTS of prayers!
once the fire gets going and all the stuff has been blessed, all the people who came to the service got to have a sip of sacremental sake and we were given a couple mandarines. yum!
i got a better shot for the closing prayers:
After the whole ceremony, all the armed priests and priestesses came up onto an elevated stage and threw peanuts and mandarins at the crowd. it's good luck to catch a lot of this stuff. i got pelted quite a few times. peanut in the eye is not very fun. but it was fun to get the photos!
This was my schwag. yum!
No comments:
Post a Comment