Fire Festival

Each festival we go to seems to get more and more exciting! Last Saturday, April 14, we were invited to the Himatsuri Festival, which translates to fire festival. We were invited by the families of the 4 private students Melissa teaches on Sunday mornings (picture below of students). Since none of the families speak English, we invited one of Frank's adult private students, Kyoko, to translate.
Before the festival began, we all ate dinner at Kaho and Kouko's family's house (2 sisters that Melissa teaches). The pictures below are taken in front of their house. The house was really nice. It's only 4 years old with a lot of wood beams and wood floors inside, almost cabin like.

These are Melissa's students:(starting from the left)
Kouko- 7, Kaho-9, Soutarou- 6, and Momoka- 8

Here's a video of Kouko on her unicycle, which are somewhat popular with kids in Japan!


Before it got dark, all the floats headed to the shrine where the fire festival was held. As they walked, they dropped Black Cats at their feet and banged on large bells.

Once we got to the festival, there were so many people. We walked down the street with all the vendors selling food and also played some games. The kids loaded up on cotton candy and snacks.


Around 7:30, the fire festival began. There were very long posts with fireworks at the top. They would light the fireworks on fire and sparks would literally rain down to the ground. The men with the floats would then run through the sparks, which they believe cleansed or purified them. This was really fun to watch until they made their way to the post next to where we were standing and the sparks and ashes fell on us!
Here is a video:



The last part of the festival were the handheld fireworks. About 100 men all lined up on a balcony with handheld fireworks, which they lit simultaneously. Sparks went everywhere for about 5 minutes. While the sparks were falling from the balcony, all the people with the floats below were continuously running through the fire. It was an amazing sight!