Most parents of small children will do anything to make their baby feel safe and happy and will go to extremes to keep their crying to a minimum. Not at the Nakizumo festival where crying is actually encouraged and prompted. The Japanese believe that the sumo induced crying keeps their children in good health, and wards off evil spirits.
The Sumo wrestlers each hold a baby and order them to "nake, nake" which means "cry, cry" and the wrestlers growl, make faces, and kind of lightly "shake" the babies. Whichever baby cries first, is the winner. This "crying baby festival" is an over 400 year old (older than America, people!) tradition and not taken lightly. Parents from all over bring their babies of their own free will. If both babies cry at the same time, the one screaming the loudest is declared the winner.
It may seem a little cruel and while standing there I found myself wondering if these kids would have scarring from this event that would some day make them scared of sumo wrestlers as many Americans are scared of clowns from some silly circus. But if I can be honest, and I can since it's my blog...this festival is freakin' hilarious. It would never fly in the US because someone would get their panties in a wad about it and stick CPS or PETA or whoever would listen, on the Sumos. In Japan, they are cool. 400 years of cool going on here. I figure if their parents were dying laughing, you can too.
and gosh, Asian babies are SO cute!
parents waiting to present their babies.
Katie!!! This is awesome & hilarious!!! I would've loved to be at such a fun event! :o) Glad you're doing well over there & enjoying it all! :o)
ReplyDelete