Internal musings and thoughts

Touch

         Winter time has arrived, men clothed in loin cloths mobbing a solo, male figure, and throwing buckets of water at each other is a Japanese tradition. 

This tradition is called the Spirit Man Festival in Japan.  One male figure is chosen each year to represent the tradition by stripping down naked and walking

three hundred yards to a holy temple.  The chosen one is paraded through the streets being poked, prodded, slapped, rubbed, and transported like a crowd

surfer.  The mob who get a chance to touch him are the lucky ones. 

         Those who get the chance to touch him will be lucky for the coming year.  If you don't get the chance to touch the Spirit Man you are out of luck. 

Better luck next time.  The video shows the disappointment on the faces of those who don't get a chance to reach out and touch him.  The mob gets riotous if

some miss the chance to touch.  Fights erupt in what is to be a spiritual experience. 

         The chosen individual bares the brunt of this experience.  Reality of being chosen sets in once they are chosen.  The mental image that the chosen

visualizes of past years is overwhelming.  Spirit Man knows the experience is brutal, but he is guaranteed luck for the next year.  Spirit Man + brutality = good

luck for the following year. 

         The chosen one endures the feeling of suffocation as the mob presses in on him trying to touch him.  He is pulled in all kinds of directions.  He is

badly bruised, unable to hold himself up, bloodied, and incapacitated.  When he reaches the temple the guardians tie themselves together so one can jump

on the crowd to reach him.  This is the only way to get him in to the safety of the temple. 

         The Sprit Man endures two hours of pure turmoil to go three hundred yards.  I wonder what luck comes the way of the participants?  Can't he break

tradition and say "let me sit in a chair like Santa Claus so they can touch me."  I would definitely throw that out there if I were chosen.  Just a thought. 

         Spirit Man is an odd tradition, but it is a tradition.  I'm glad it's not a tradition I have to endure.  There are wonderful traditions here in the states, and I

will stick to those.  We have a beautiful holiday coming up called Christmas which is an amazing tradition.  Enjoy the tradition and the holiday as it

approaches, or whatever tradition you celebrate.