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| English: Icon of Shinto 日本語: 神道のアイコン (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| ooharae-chinowa-summer,katori-jingu,katori-city,japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
History of Nagoshi no Harae
Nagoshi no Harae is a purification ceremony that happens on the last day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar. In olden times a great purification was held twice a year (once every six months) but over the years the end of the year purification began to die out as the mid-year purification gained unprecedented popularity. The mid-year ceremony became grander and more magnificent year by year until it became what it is today.Shinto and Nagoshi no Harae
Nagoshi no Harae is very much related to the Shinto belief system in Japan. The Oharahi-no-Kotoba is a prayer that is said during daily Shinto shrine pursuits.
What happens at Nagoshi no Harae?
Shrines hold a grand purification ceremony in late June called Nagoshi no Harae. People come to the ceremony to atone for the sins they have so far committed in the first half of the yeah and pray for good health and positivity in the months to come by walking through a large wreath made of miscanthus reeds called a 'chinowa'.
Some shrines supply their guests with little paper men that are known as 'hitogata' or paper scapegoats. these are used to help purify a person. They are meant to rub it all over their body to absorb the sin and badness that has polluted their body. This badness and negativity is knows as 'kegare'. The paper scapegoat is then thrown awayby floating it along a river or by burning it.
