Okinawa has many interesting life ceremonies!

Okinawa has some interesting life rituals

Did you know? In Okinawa, there is a festival that celebrates important milestones in life. Called “Rite of Life,” this ceremony is a social expression of an individual’s entry into a new phase of his or her life.

On the other hand, “annual events” refer to traditional festivals that are customarily held each year.

Some life rituals and annual events have been lost due to lifestyle changes, while others are traditional performing arts that have been handed down from generation to generation.

In Okinawa, life is based on these events. Once you understand this, you will enjoy traveling and moving to Okinawa!

Pregnancy – Birth

A baby is born.

Disposal of the “Eyer” (sporophyte)

We pray for the proper handling of newborn baby spores and their healthy growth.

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In the Najki tradition, many children’s names, called warabiner, are used. It is intended to carry on the names of the ancestors, and the following rituals are performed to ensure a healthy child.

First, the target is shot using a tool called a “wino,” which is placed in the garden. Next, a spatula is used to dig out the grass called “Sobo. Then, they report to the god of fire and place a mark on the child’s forehead to ward off evil spirits. Finally, the child is put to bed and dressed, and then his teeth are made to crawl and grasshoppers are made to fly. This ceremony is performed by an old woman wearing a front robe called a kakan.

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Manseng (full production)

Mansan is a celebration held on the seventh night after the birth of a baby in Okinawa. In this celebration, relatives and friends are informed of the baby’s birth and its name.

The word “manzan” is derived from the word “satisfaction,” and is considered a celebration of childbirth that celebrates “the best possible state of mind.” In the Mansang ceremony, food is offered before the fire god and Buddha, and the child’s name is announced. Relatives and villagers gather for a lively celebration.

Mansan, also known as “Mansan-uei or Mansan-suji,” is one of the most important traditional events in Okinawa.

hacienda

Haciatchi (Haciatchi) is an Okinawan baby celebration. The purpose is to take the baby out for the first time and introduce him or her to parents and relatives.

Since there is no culture of Omusai in Okinawa, Haciacci is done as the baby’s first outing.

Once the place to go is decided, preparations are made to welcome the baby with delicious treats. Haciacci is often the first trip back to one’s hometown after childbirth.

Tanker UA

In the Okinawan dialect, “tanqa-yuei” means “the celebration of a baby’s first birthday.

This event is both a celebration of the child’s first full year of life and an important event for the child’s future career path. It is held at one of the parents’ homes, inviting relatives, friends, and acquaintances.

The Tanka Yuei includes prayers to the Hinukan and the Buddhist altar, followed by the main event, the Tanka divination. During the tanka fortune telling, money, a brush, scissors, an abacus, and a book are placed on the floor and the child is asked to take them to divine what occupation he or she will have in the future. However, what is placed on the table varies from family to family.

Thus, the tanka-yuei is an important event to celebrate a child’s first full year of life and to determine his or her future path.

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Jusan UA (Jusan celebration)

Okinawa’s thirteenth celebration is a birthday celebration for children who have reached the age of thirteen in the counting year. In Okinawa, the year of one’s zodiac sign is one’s birth year, and when the year of one’s zodiac sign arrives, an age celebration “tushibee” is held to pray for good health and good fortune. Tushibee begins at the age of 13, and is held every 12 years until the age of 97.

In the thirteenth celebration, children wear kimonos and visit temples and shrines. During the visit, children write one kanji character that they hold dear or one of their favorite characters on a half-sheet of paper with a brush and make an offering. They then receive prayers, good luck charms and offerings, and return home.

The season for the jusan celebration is from mid-March to mid-May, and the traditional time of celebration is the year in which the child turns 13 years old (April of the 6th grade) according to the count. In modern times, some families hold the jusan celebration at the time when the child graduates from elementary school and enters junior high school.

Hajiuchi era (1185.8.27-1190.4.11)

Women’s Tattoos “Hajichi (Hari-Tsuki)” in the Ryukyu Islands

Hajichi (tattooing) of women in the Ryukyu Islands, which had been practiced since the 16th century, was performed mainly from the fingertips to the elbows, and had such meanings as coming of age, prosperity of offspring, and protection against evil. The age of the tattoo varies from under 10 years old to late 20s, and the age of first hajichi was 4 to 7 years old on the main island of Okinawa. Hajichi was celebrated with family and friends on odd-numbered lucky days.

Hajichi was believed to be a signpost in the afterlife and to ward off evil, and it was also an object of awe, for if one did not perform hajichi, he would be in serious trouble. However, the hajichi has changed from an object of admiration to an object of exclusion, and this year marks 120 years since it was banned.

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Horsfield’s hawk cuckoo

About the traditional Okinawan custom of “moo-ashi-bi” (hair play)

Mo ashibi is a traditional custom in which young men and women enjoy singing and dancing at night in fields away from the village. Mo is a field, and the village square where they gather is also called azimah (tsuji) play.

It is a place where young men and women gather from evening to late at night to enjoy eating, drinking, singing, dancing, and socializing, and can be described as an Okinawan blind date in the old days. In pre-modern Okinawa, it was a means of finding a marriage partner and a place for free romance.

Yumikooi (wife-begging)

Yumikūy is a term related to marriage. The choice of spouse was usually decided by the parents.

While yumikhuy was common, conversely, there was also a kuimuk (beggar-musuboku), in which a woman asks a man to marry her. This means, “Please take my daughter as your wife.

Sakimui (Yui)

In Okinawan weddings, there is a ceremony called “Sakimui”. There is also a binding ceremony called “Hukwan”.

Sakimui, also called “sake-mori,” refers to the meal served when a son or daughter becomes engaged. When the engagement is finalized, the parents and relatives of the groom’s side bring sake and snacks to the bride’s side on an auspicious day for the betrothal ceremony. At this time, the groom’s side presents a rice cake as a token of their gratitude.

Nivichi (Marriage)

Nibichi means “wedding ceremony” in Okinawan dialect. There are various theories as to the origin of this word, but it is believed to be derived from the word “nebiki,” and nibichi is a dialect reading of nebiki.

In wedding speeches, the phrase “ni-bichi gusu-ji sabira (congratulations on your marriage)” is often used.

Tushibi (celebration of birth year)

Tushibi is an Okinawan dialect event to celebrate the year in which the zodiac sign of one’s birth turns. It is usually celebrated once every 12 years.

tokachi

In the celebration of 88 years of age, rice is placed in a basket, on top of which stands a row of rice in the shape of a doukatsu, and rice in a masu, which is also piled on top of the basket. The rice in the Masu is scraped off and any rice that spills over is shared with children and grandchildren to celebrate their longevity.

Kazimaya (Israeli political party)

Kazimaya is an event to celebrate the longevity of 97 counted years old in the Okinawa region. This festival is also called the Windmill Festival, which means windmill in the Okinawan dialect. This is because there is a legend that at the age of 97, people return to the heart of a child again, and this is the origin of playing with a windmill.

Kajimaya, held on the seventh or ninth day of the ninth lunar month, is one of Okinawa’s tusibi, or birth year celebrations, and marks the age at which a person turns 97 and is considered to be a child again. In this festival, grandmothers and uncles parade through the village carrying windmills.

Some records indicate that kajimaya used to be performed as a mock funeral ceremony. Until the Meiji era (1868-1912), people were dressed in death costumes and made the rounds of the village’s seven kajimaya (four streets).

Meowthi (deathbed)

Meutee means “eye fall,” “death,” or “dying” in the Okinawan dialect.

Dabi (funeral)

The funeral is called dabi or ukui. The time of dabi departed according to the time of the spicy tide.

winning hand containing no end tiles or honor tiles

Nankasuko (seven-day burning of incense), a traditional Okinawan memorial service, is held every seven days for 49 days after the funeral.

The memorial service immediately following the funeral is called “Hatsu Nanichi” (first seven days), which is called “Shonanoka” in Japan, but in Okinawa it is called “Hachinanka. The memorial service held seven times at seven-day intervals from the first seven days to the 49th day is called “Nankasuko (burning incense during the week).

The 49th day falls on the 49th day of the deceased’s life, starting on the 1st day of the deceased’s life. The 49th day of the month is the 49th day of the year, starting on the 1st day of the deceased’s death. For example, if the deceased died on January 1, the date of death would be January 1 and the 49th day would be February 18.

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winning hand containing four kongs or pungs of winds

Ninchisuko is a kind of generic term for Okinawan Buddhist ceremonies and memorial services, written in Chinese characters as “burning incense.

Ninchi Sukho is a memorial service for the first, third, seventh, and thirteenth anniversaries of a person’s death, and is performed four times during Wakasukho (young burning of incense) and twice during Uhusukho (large burning of incense).

In Okinawa’s Ninchi Sukho, many families begin with “Inui” (one-year anniversary) and end with “Sanju San Ninchi” (33rd anniversary). 33rd anniversary is called “Uwai” (end) Sukho, which ends the series of memorial services.

In Okinawa, prayers to ancestors are called “Uguankutuba” (Gogan words), etc.

summary

Okinawa has many interesting traditional events.
In addition to the ones introduced here, there is the ” Saniz (beach descent)” on March 3 of the lunar calendar, when women go down to the sea to purify themselves and pray for good health, and ” Tunji Juicy ” on the winter solstice, when the whole family eats Okinawan-style cooked rice and offers it to the hinukan (fire god) and Buddhist altar to pray for the health of the family. The rice is then offered to the hinukan (fire god) and to the altar of Buddha.

There are also three New Year’s days in Okinawa.
They are New Year’s Day (January 1), Lunar New Year’s Day, and Gusonu New Year’s Day (New Year’s Day in the afterlife, January 16 on the lunar calendar).

It’s interesting! I hope you will look into it and see what you can find out!

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