my host niece turned 3 years old recently, so it was her first shichi-go-san celebration, and as such, we were all pretty excited. even roberta and lana, previous host students of my family, came to see! we headed to the temple (tokugawa ieyasu's home temple: we even got to go on a tour and see all his rooms. toilet included. wut.) but ended up there super ahead of when my host niece was to arrive, so decided to stroll and take in the festival sights.
y-chan and k-tan finally show up! SO. FREAKING. CUTE.
we did some praying for y-chan (haha love her face~)
then took a quick tour in ieyasu's home area! his garden, lucky whore.
after that was the actual shichi-go-san ceremony. i wish i could've taken pictures guys YOU HAVE NO IDEA but it was forbidden inside the temple area. the priests were so kickass yo. i almost died laughing when one, looking extremely serene in his orange robes, his prayer beads in place, and calmly standing in front of tons of kids and their families, whipped a microphone out of his sleeve as if it was no big thing. which it probs wasn't, but i still found it highly amusing.
the ceremony consisted mainly of one of the priests chanting, another beating a drum, and one stoking up a large fire in front of him. i really should've posted earlier; my memory is shot without pictures D:
then all the families went up to the pot where the fire had been, and where tons of incense was smoking (incensing? ww), and one by one reached out over the sticks and pulled some of the smoke towards them, first wafting it over their body, then face, then head. it was slightly awkward to do it myself: like i was stealing their incense, or making a mockery of tradition because i had no idea the significance behind said incense wafting.
anywho. the kids all received chitose ame (which is 1000 year candy, long sticks of sweet nomliciousness that symbolize long life and good health), and then we headed out.
here is y-chan being ridic adorable with her chitose ame and cotton candy~
then we took a walk through the town (while very difficult in heels, definitely worth it because this place was full of picture goodies)
and then came the food. oh god the food. the restaurant's room wasn't big enough for all of us, so us three gaijin were bundled off to a place with chairs, and the food was brought to us. there must've been ten different courses. IT KEPT COMING. it was pretty traditional japanese cuisine, so some of the courses were a hit (that weird dumpling thing that nevertheless tasted good) and some weren't (we gaijin aren't too fond of eating things with faces still left on). after us gaijins finished our meal (so expensive holy jeebus. if i ever have shichi-go-san kids in japan, we're just getting some celebratory nikuman from 7-11 and heading home yo.) we rejoined the family and ate tasty strawberry shortcake (of course) with k-tan's face on it. i got the mouth. lolforever.
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