People digging clams and praying for health at beaches in Okinawa
Children playing during Hama-ori, grabbing crabs and other sea creatures (Photograph by Muneaki Furugen)
Many people visited sunny beaches on March 18, which is March 3 on the old lunar calendar, to hold an event called Hama-ori. Many children enjoyed clam digging on the beaches.
About 40 children, aged four to five, from Gajimaru nursery school in Mekaru, Naha City, visited and played at the beach in Urasoe. Putting sea water on hands and forehead, the children prayed for health before stepping in the water.
The school director, Principal Yumiko Itokazu, commented, “We do this Hama-ori event every year so we can teach our children tradition and so they grow up healthy.”
Hama-ori is an annual event practiced in the Amami and Okinawa regions, when people visit beaches to dip feet and hands in sea water to purify and to pray for health.
(English translation by T&CT and Sayaka Sakuma
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