Japan's Festival of Broken Needles (or Festival of Needles, I've heard Hari-Kuyo translated both ways) is tomorrow, February 8. I save up my tarnished needles all year for this.
http://stitchinfingers.ning.com/forum/topics/festival-of-needles
I'm not Japanese nor am I near a Japanese temple where needles are inserted into tofu and then floated away in a river, so tomorrow I will carefully package up my used needles in the prettiest box I have before I ceremoniously put them in the trash. I like the idea of honoring the little needles without which I could not needlepoint.
If you are curious about the tradition, read what Susan has to say, then click on the link to the booklet that explains the traditions around this ceremonial Shinto tradition.
http://plays-with-needles.blogspot.com/2011/02/preparing-for-hari-kuyo.html
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
4 comments:
Thanks for the post and for the link! I like this tradition and need to think how can I adopt it for cold Moscow reality. Rivers are frozen, and I don't have spare tofu ( put pleanty of Gouda cheese!)
This was really interesting reading, thank you for that Jane. Will not work for me though - usually loose needles before they get worn out :)
That came around quickly and I have my pile ready to dispense...thanks for reminding me it is time!
I had never heard of this before but it sounds like a lovely tradition. I too have some "orphan" no longer stitchable needles.
They deserve respect.
What a nice idea
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