CHAPTER XXI
TWO GREAT FESTIVALS
There are two great Japanese festivals of which we have not yet spoken, but
which are of the first importance. One is the New Year Festival, the other
is the Bon Matsuri, the Feast of the Dead, in the summer. The New Year
Festival is the great Japanese holiday of the year. No one does any work
for several days, and all devote themselves to making merry. Although this
festival comes in the middle of winter, every street looks like an arbour,
decorated as it is with arches of greenery before each house. On either
side of each door is a pine-tree and bamboo stems. These signify a hardy
old age, and they are joined by a grass rope which runs from house to
house along the street. This rope is supposed to prevent evil spirits from
entering the houses, and so it ensures the occupants a lucky year. Japanese
flags are entwined amid the decorations, and green feathery branches and
ferns are set about, until the street looks like a forest.
Japanese people are so polite to each other that even the beggars in the
streets bow to each other in the most ceremonious fashion, but at this
festival the bowing is redoubled. There is a special form of greeting for
this occasion, and not a bow is to be missed when two acquaintances meet.
There is much feasting and a great exchange of presents. The Japanese are
always making presents to each other, and there is a prescribed way for
every rank of life to make presents to every other rank, and for the manner
in which the presents are to be received.
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