Strange "bullying children" festival in early spring in Japan

One of them is the NakiZumou Matsuri or Baby Crying with Sumo festival. This is a festival with a long tradition with a history of more than 400 years with the English name Baby Sumo Cry.

This is a very special festival of the Japanese, it is said that there are many different theories about this strange festival. It was born in the Edo period (1603-1867) and still exists today despite the criticisms and controversies that often erupt around it. The special festival right from its name "Sumo scares children" is funny and strange about its organization and meaning. The most special thing is that their parents do not feel sorry, but they personally hold them and give them to the sumo to scare them until they burst into tears. The baby who cries the loudest will win.

Every year, 50-100 children participate in the contest, ranging in age from 6 to 18 months. Children wearing traditional clothes, wearing belts, are held by two sumo wrestlers and stand facing each other. At the beginning of the competition, two sumo holding two children stood facing each other. The referee will shout “Naki! Naki! Naki!" cry A monk wearing a demon mask scared the baby to scream. The referee will decide who wins based on who makes the baby cry first. In case two children cry together, the referee will base on the echo, clearer to decide.

If mothers always want their children to be good, cry less, this festival wants to find the baby who cries the loudest and most persistent. The reason for such a strangeness is because, Japanese people believe that a child who cries loudly will be healthier, grow up to be more confident and fangs than children who do not cry. Normally, the sound of crying children will make parents extremely worried and uncomfortable, but during the Nakizumo festival, they expect their child to break the lock first or cry the loudest and longest, because they believe it is a child. good sign. Such children are considered the healthiest. According to the spiritual concept, they believe that the cry of a baby will drive away the ghosts and demons in the baby so that the baby grows up healthy. Therefore, they have a saying: "the more children cry, the faster they grow".

The sumo wrestlers held the children in their giant arms, shaking them gently and growling loudly to make the scared baby cry. Some people even have to wear demon masks and do scary actions to expect babies to cry loudly. The first child to cry will be the winner of the contest. After a while, if the little boys and girls are still stubborn and do not shed tears, a referee will appear, wearing a traditional mask or dressed in a fierce style, running in front of the child, howling, threatened to make it cry. In Japan, the festival of scaring babies to cry is held all over the country with customs and laws that vary from region to region. In some places, the first child to cry becomes the loser.

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Injavi.com - Visit in Japan