UNIQUE TRAVEL EXPERIENCES IN SPRING AROUND THE WORLD

SPRING IS THE FIRST SEASON OF A NEW YEAR AND A TIME TO WELCOME GOOD THINGS. THEREFORE, MANY PEOPLE CHOOSE TO TRAVEL IN THE SPRING WITH THE DESIRE TO SEE NATURAL LANDSCAPE DURING THE MOST FLOURISHING TIME AND HOPE FOR A FAVORABLE NEW YEAR. TRAVELLIVE WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE TO YOU SOME UNIQUE EXPERIENCES THAT CAN BE FOUND ONLY IN THE SPRING.

WALKING BAREFOOT ON FIRE

It is an experience that visitors can try when participating in the Hiwatari-matsuri Spring Festival which takes place at the beginning of March every year at Yukiji Temple on Takao Mountain in the west of Tokyo (Japan). This is a festival of followers of Shugendo, a Buddhist practice that believes in a path to spiritual power through discipline. Fire is used by Shugendo followers as a ritual to ward off evil and also as a method to daily train the will and spirit.

During the festival, the believers set up a pyre to burn things that symbolize evil, then perform the goma ritual: holding a sacred charm, believers walk barefoot over hot coals thinking of their desires to avoid misfortune, receive good luck and health and live in a world of peace. After the ritual is over, visitors can participate by taking off their shoes and walking barefoot through the hot ground to purify their bad luck from the old year.