Earth / Water Days
The Beginning of the Five Elements Festival
地 or Chi represents the
solid and hard things of the world; mentally, it is a desire to have things
remain as they are and resist change. For us, chi comes out as deference to the
past or the foundation on which something is based.
Translated
as sui or mizu, 水 represents those which are
flowing, fluid and formless. Water is associated with emotion, defensiveness
and deals with change and our ability to be flexible and adapt to it.
We
began the festivities quietly, with a simple shrine ceremony focused on the
earth element. Those who attended washed their hands at the chouzuya, offered a
small prayer at the earth shrine and observed images of Shinmachi’s past in the
nearby museum.
Directly
after the shrine event, Tsuyu-chan hosted her first chanoyu (traditional
Japanese tea ceremony). Her chanoyu was held in the water gardens and featured
a water theme throughout. I could not have been a prouder older sister.
The earth / water days ended with a reproduction of my
second favorite kabuki performance: Heron Maiden. We completely transformed the
temporary festival stage (more pictures of that building to come in future blog
posts) into a winter wonderland. It was an amazing performance and I wish I
would have taken more pictures!
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