Dontosai

In Japan the New Year ends on January 14th. That day is called Dontosai and is marked by fire festivals held in Shinto shrines throughout the country. It is a time of purification and of forgiveness, of a readiness to start the New Year with humility and resolve. Fire burns away the past. It cleanses minds and hearts to create a vision of hope, a promise for what lies ahead.

On that sacred day people gather their decorations and flock to the nearest Shinto shrine. There they toss their offerings into bonfires that roar and hiss as the flames are fed into full abundance.

What makes this festival unique is not so much the bonfires, however, as the people. Participants join colleagues, dressed in thin cotton outfits and straw sandals. They walk together through the city ringing bells and shivering their way to the nearest shrine. They carry lanterns and hold paper in their mouths to control their chattering teeth and to give them a focus beyond the piercing cold. Once at the shrine area, they circle the bonfires, rejoicing in the warmth, as other worshipers throw their decorations into the flames.

From there they wind their way to the altar. There they receive a priest’s blessing and are greeted by shrine maidens offering them sake, elixir of the gods.

The hard challenge of filing through a city in below freezing temperatures, scantily clad, is a test of fortitude and a bonding experience with those who have the courage to join them.

Regular worshippers, fully dressed for winter’s bitterness, also head to the altar to pray. They, too, ring bells, bow, ask for blessings. 

They take fortune slips, believing that this day will reveal the secrets of the year ahead. Unfavorable predictions are left behind, leaving ribbons of fluttering sadness for the gods to address, not the humans.

Japanese say they are not religious, and maybe they are not. But they all recognize the power of superstitions and live by them. People of all ages go to shrines on Dontosai. They pray, they eat, they buy expensive decorations and Daruma dolls, immediately throwing them into the fire. 

“We do this to please the gods. We do this for good luck. We do this for a prosperous year. We do this because we are Japanese and we believe.”

God bless the world as we, Japanese or not, strive for purity and humility, as we seek forgiveness and start this year with endless courage to endure.

Love,
Anne