While JP was in Korea this weekend coaching hockey, Szerafina and I made the most of the winter weather and local festivities. We did a lot of this, walking and digging our way through the snow piles.
Here are some photos of The Enburi Festival. Enburi is a well know celebration, distinctive to this north eastern region that we live in. In traditional Japanese folk culture, people believed prayer and dance performance brought a rich rice harvest. This is a modern rendition of the ancient ritual of honouring the sacred rice crop - the most important crop in the country.
Horses are also important figures in this region. Thus, the dancers wear decorated horse head caps to symbolise rice harvests where peasant and horse become one.
The dancers and costumes were quite spectacular, and I found myself becoming overcome with emotion. I felt the sacredness of the movements, the drumming and chanting of the people. Rice is still considered to be the most important self sustaining crop of the country. In fact the word for meal is 'gohan' which literally translates to 'rice'.
Szerafina and I hung around as spectator for about an hour before the snow made its way into our boots and mittens. We opted to find some lunch and hot tea, and ended a lovely day by finding some vintage cashmere scarfs (score for Mamma!!).
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