Exclusive Feast

 

 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 by masakuniterui