Tarama Island hosts Stuupunaka festival and prays for good harvest

Tarama Island hosts Stuupunaka festival and prays for good harvest

Villagers drink the sacred sake at the dawn prayer, wishing for a good harvest, at about 11 p.m. on May 5, Tarama Island.　


May 6, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

Tarama Island’s traditional event “Stuupunaka festival” was held on May 5 and 6, with locals gathering to give thanks for the year of good harvest and pray for community prosperity.

The dawn prayer began from the night of May 5, when elders sang the sacred song (Niri) and exchanged sake.
After the elders sang, the young men raised square bowls filled with sake above their heads and jeered, saying, “Heya, Yakkayakka”.

The voices resounded in a quiet evening with an early summer breeze.

Stuupunaka is one of the two major events of Tarama Village, along with “Patchugatsu-ugan”(August Dancing), which is one of the nation’s designated significant intangible folklore cultural assets.

The event is held at the four festival venues in the village. Legend has it the villagers held the event to calm the wrath of the dragon god of the undersea palace Ryugu, and to offer thanks.

(English translation by T&CT)

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