It is true that Golden week is a conglomeration of holidays the most prominent and known about is likely Childrens Day, which is held on May 5th. This day is celebrated by flying koi nobori which are koi (carp) windsock kites. These kites can actually get to be pretty expensive ( several thousand dollars) and the different fish along the pole each have different meanings. The largest of which is a rather recent addition and is a plan sea blue or deep blue windsock which represents the sea, descending along the pole are black red blue and green fish which in turn symbolize the father, mother, and their sons. I believe there are also a few more recent additions to represent daughters. The reason that daughters were not originally symbolized along this pole with everyone else in the family is that previously this day was known as Boys Day. Girls day was Hinamatsuri and boys day was Tango no Sekku (Feast of Banners...Feast of Crows? anyone?). On the current childrens' day, it is custom for parents or grandparents to gift their children, regardless of boy or girl.
Childrens day is considered the last holiday of Golden Week with the other holidays falling on the 29th of April, the 3rd and the 4th of May. The other holidays are seemingly less important and if you ask a normal Japanese they might have a hard time remembering the significance of all the days.
Today May 4th is known as Greenery Day. Though the day has been changed and moved about many times a fact remains that it has always been consistently held in the spring time to better commune with the growing of plants and the celebration of all the new green life. What do Japanese people do on this day? Absolutely nothing. Well a few traditional ones might tend to their garden or perhaps plant something and spruce of the life of their patios. It is a bit like Arbor Day in the States... only we really attempt to celebrate it with the young ones and will plant trees and such. However due to the hodge podge of holidays the significance of this one perhaps gets a bit jumbled and over looked.
May 3rd is now known as the constitution memorial day in Japan. To celebrate, what else, the constitution. Not much is done on this day either except to make the holi-week another day longer. Perhaps some might visit the museum which holds the constitution or some other equally important democracy inspiring sigil.
April 29th has been changed a few times and has finally settled on being known as the emperors birthday. The emperor for which this holiday stood is a few decades past, and the holiday is inconsistent with the current emperors birthday, but the day is more of a reflection of the emperor and his lengthy rule during the wide array of events that manifested and dignified his reign.
NOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENS
Most kids just hang out with their families for a week and might go and visit relatives. It is a big family oriented holiday. You will find many places that closed during this holiday, restaurants, shops, stores of all kinds. Though, in popular areas you will find some places open; for instance if you go and visit a very well known temple, many of the omiyagi shops will be open to make a quick yen. As it turns out, temple going is a very popular venture for most families during this holiday. Many will travel to places like Ise to pay homage to one of the greatest temples in Japan and the birth place of Amaterasu the sun Goddess as well as the sun itself.
This family practice of gathering during the holidays continues to when children are grown. A friend of mine, past her college years, went home to her family during Golden Week all of whom then went and visited Tottori together.
No comments:
Post a Comment