(Japanese culture)
Maybe you’ve already heard of it, but let me introduce this interesting and adorable celebration to you.
November 15 is Shichi-go-san, a day of prayer for the healthy growth of young children. Shichi-go-san literally means seven, five, three; in most regions around the country, boys and girls aged three, boys aged five, and girls aged seven visit a Shinto shrine with their parents. At the Shinto shrine, there, they pray to Ujigami (氏神), the Shinto guardian god of good health, wishing for the well-being of their children. Usually a purification rite (harai) and the reciting of a Shinto prayer (norito) are performed on that day. Ujigami, in the Shintō religion of Japan, the tutelary deity of a village or geographic area.
The meaning of ujigami has undergone considerable evolution over the centuries, mainly because of the historical migrations of clan communities in Japan. Originally the term referred to the ancestral deity (kami) of a family or clan (uji), blood kinship forming the basis of the spiritual relationship. The extent of the ujigami’s protection was later enlarged to cover those who lived with the clan or near it and since has extended over the parish into which one is born. Ujiko are those who live within or were born within the geographic boundaries of the tutelary deity and who help manage the shrine affairs.
Most girls wear kimonos when making their Shichi-go-san visit, while boys don haori jackets and hakama trousers. The kimono is a traditional Japanese dress. An appropriate style and color of kimono is to be worn depending on the occasion and the person's age and marital status. While haori kimono jacket is an exquisite, easy to wear, traditional Japanese jacket that looks wonderful worn either casually with jeans or dressed up with evening wear. It's a long Japanese jacket, with deep, kimono style, swinging sleeves; always in lovely fabrics, often with lavish designs on the back.
Haori kimono jackets,