Today is the summer solstice festival, a day to wash away the impurities of the first half of the year and pray for safety after summer.
It's nice to go to a nearby shrine and pass through the straw ring, but we can also hold a summer solstice festival at home.
Whether it's chanting purifying prayers, eating the Japanese sweet Minazuki, or cleaning the inside and outside of the house, if we do these things with feeling, all of them will become purifications and exorcisms.
Since I had already celebrated the summer solstice on June 21st, I didn't go to the shrine today. Instead, I chanted purification prayers at home and prayed for health and safety in the second half of the year.
I don't remember ever passing through a straw circle, so I'd like to try it once. I'm sure it would leave me feeling refreshed.
