Festival for children - traditional event

3 and 5 years old boys
3 and 7 years old girls
Having Chitose ame

November 15th is the day of the Seven-five-three festival in Japan.
This is a traditional Japanese event to celebrate children's growth and pray for their future health and well-being.

On the day of the festival, boys aged three and five, and girls aged three and seven, are taken to a shrine.

3 years old girl
 in lovely kimono

At the shrine, Shinto priests perform a brief purification ceremony.
Many children are dressed in lovely kimono. Boys wear a two-piece boy's kimono, "haori" and "hakama".
After the ceremony, children receive long red and white candy sticks called chitose-ame. "Chitose" means "one thousand years".
The length of the candy sticks represents parents' wishes for their children's longevity.
However, recently fewer and fewer young parents are following this custom and interest in it is gradually declining.

Due to the weekday on Nov 15, many people visit the second Sunday in Nov. (this year, it was today(Nov 14))