Japanese cotton drifting festival
Watanagashi (腸流し) Or (綿流し)
Watanagashi
Watanagashi is the largest celebration for the rural town of Hinamizawa. It takes place on the third Sunday of June. This festival is to celebrate the guardian god Oyashiro. The people receive a small ball of cotton then they go to the river and send it drifting down. This is a symbol of removing the demon inside of your body
The Dark Secret of Watanagashi
綿 -Meaning cotton has a homophone 腸- meaning Intestine. Before it was the cotton drifting festival it was the Intestine drifting festival. They would cut one person in a special way that would keep them alive for as long as possible. Then they would remove his/her intestine and float it down the river. The people of hinamizawa decided it was to brutal and changed to cotton meaning the same thing. The three great family's of hinamizawa still keep the tools to this day
Furude Shrine
The Furude Shrine is where the festival starts
Hinamizawa
The town where the cotton drifting festival is celebrated
Hinamizawa river
This is where they float the cotton down river