Sunday, August 8, 2010

Wedding Kimono Parade

The town of Minami Aizu in Fukushima has an 800-year old tradition of putting on a sort of "bride" parade, where women dressed in wedding kimono march through the summer heat to help make offerings at an important local shrine. This year's parade took place a couple of weeks ago, and you can see a photo gallery of the event here.

In a glimpse into a more traditional way of thinking, the white strips across the women's foreheads are a traditional piece of the wedding outfit, "horn hiders", meant to hide a woman's natural jealousy and show that she promises to keep a lid on it as best she can.

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