Last night, on the eve of beginning a week long celebration of the Turn Around the Sun Re-Creation ManiFestival, Portalandia and i  enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness the ancient Shinto ritual of Mikagura Sacred Dance. Involving an imaginative journey across time and space, we are transported to the pond in the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura, Japan where the spirit of kami is enshrined. For some 2000 years, this sacred dance has been performed to please the kami, last night was the first performance in the continental United States.

Beginning with the lighting of the bonfire, we are purified with a branch of Sakaki or evergreen followed with chanting by the priests to invite the kami and more chanting offering hospitality to the kami and ending with chanting to send the kami back to their origin.

Mikagura transports us into a space in harmony with the heavenly bodies, truly, a dancing with the stars….

May we all revere the spirit in nature and live in peace…