Yakudoshi, unlucky age, is a Japanese
traditional way of thinking. All 42-year-old males might be unlucky. To avoid bad
luck, people in Yakudoshi are recommended to contribute to society. Some people
visit shrines and pray. Some people do charity activities. Of course, some
people don’t care. There are some feasts organized by Yakudoshi people in some
areas.
My hometown has a traditionally special feast
for Yakudoshi. I took part in the feast when I was 42 years old.
When I was working for the feast, a friend of
mine complained about the feast. His hometown is a different place. He came to my
hometown after he grew up. He wanted to participate in the feast in my
hometown. But the members refused him.
I didn’t say anything. But I couldn’t
understand why they refused him.
Our feast was actually just one day cleaning
up the shrine and one day giving people alcohol and snacks. Everyone should
participate.
The main event of our Yakudoshi was receiving
a ritual for purification in the shrine on January 1. Most events were finished
at that time. After that, we had a farewell party.
All members were childhood friends. But we
were all adults. We talked and reacted as decent adults until that time. At
that party, we had alcohol.
We started calling each other stupid nicknames
again, which we all used to do when we were children. We started the childish games
we all used to play, like pro wrestling, as if we traveled to the old days through
a time machine. It was almost a dream. I enjoyed it. It might be the essence of
this feast.
But we should not embarrass people from other
towns. If there was such a person, we had to act as decent adults.
Sorry, people from other towns, our feast is
exclusive. We want to drink alcohol with childhood friends in an exclusive
situation. If you want to enjoy this kind of feast, please produce it in your
hometown.
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Picture
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