Most of us might have attended a music fest or heard of several annual festivals like Gujarat’s famous ‘Kite Festival’ or Spain’s famous La Tomatina fest. But looks like people are done with celebrating the traditional ones. From savouring world’s finest chocolates at a ‘Belgium Choco Festival’ to gleefully jumping into a pool of cow dung at Tamil Nadu’s ‘Gobar Festival’, people have done it all.
But this annual event celebrated throughout Japan is the baap of all the weird festivals I have ever heard of. In this famous festival, the attendees wear bare minimum clothing.
Hadaka Matsuri: Thousands gather for Japan's annual 'Naked Festival'
Tokyo (CNN) — Thousands braved chilly weather on Saturday to gather at the annual "Naked Festival" in Okayama prefecture in the southern part of Japan's Honshu island.-We need a 'naked Festival' in the USA! pic.twitter.com/V4DOm1iwrp
— Jeff Rabinowitz (@rxjef77) February 16, 2020
Hadaka Matsuri AKA the ‘Naked Festival’ is celebrated throughout Japan every year, usually in the summer or winter, reports NDTV. Every year, over 10,000 men participate in this festival and this year, it wasn’t different.
Hadaka Matsuri: inside Japan’s naked festivalhttps://t.co/cfnWaO9dUl pic.twitter.com/gwOkaYPxZP
— The Week UK (@TheWeekUK) February 17, 2020
Although the name of the festival is intriguing, however, men attending the festival are rarely entirely naked. According to TOI, the men sport a minimal amount of clothing, usually, a Japanese loincloth called a “fundoshi” and a pair of white socks called “tabi”.
Hadaka Matsuri; the Naked Festival of Japan begins on Honshu island. 10 thousand devotees participate. pic.twitter.com/rHKcy5ad5g
— TIME_Traveller (@TIME_WARNER_Inc) February 16, 2020
The harvest festival is celebrated in hopes of gaining a bountiful harvest, prosperity and fertility. CNN reports that ‘as a part of the rituals of the festival, men spend the initial hours running around temple grounds and purifying themselves with freezing cold water and then head towards the main temple.’ The fest also has a separate event for young lads that aim at ‘fostering interest in younger generations’.
“We hope they will be able to keep the tradition alive in the future,” Mieko Itano, a spokeswoman from the Okayama tourism board, told CNN. Towards the end of the day, the participants struggle to find the two lucky 20-centimetre-long shingi sticks that the priest throws along with 100 bundles of twigs into the crowd.
Whoever ends up catching one of the bundles and/or the two ‘lucky’ sticks guarantees a year of good luck. FYI, men traditionally got rid of their clothes as they came in their way of catching the lucky sticks.
In this 30-minute long event, the participants often end up hurting themselves. Reports suggest that people come from across Japan to attend the one-of-a-kind fest. The fest is a one-day event with plenty of other festivities for one to enjoy.
However, this year, festival organizers took extra precautions amid the coronavirus outbreak. Hand sanitizers were placed at the temple entrance and around the festival. Well, this is one event most of the people ready to rip-off their tees would love to attend. Have you heard of any other unique festivals? Tell us.