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Showing posts from December, 2011

FESTIVALS IN JAPAN - Dec 31

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Hieizan Enryakuji Onioi-shiki In a lively Buddhist service, a monk wearing a goblin mask is chased off.

FESTIVALS IN JAPAN - Dec 28

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Osame Fudo ・ Osame Fuda Otakiage Charms and amulets received during the year are burned as prayers of thanks are offered.

FESTIVALS IN JAPAN - Dec 25

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Shimai Tenjin The temple fair is held the 25th of each month. This particular day being the last fair of the year, the market is bustling with people shopping not only for potted plants and sundries but also the many New Year's items on display.

FESTIVALS IN JAPAN - Dec 16

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Keta no U-Matsuri At this distinctive festival, the way that a single cormorant comes to a stop by the light of a flickering candle atop a platform is used to foretell whether the coming year will bring a good or bad harvest and fishing catch.

Do you Know : On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily!

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FESTIVALS IN JAPAN - Dec 6

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Akibasan Hibuse Matsuri An esoteric Buddhist ceremony. Monk ascetics, called Shugenja, perform rituals for the deity using drums, bells, and religious chants. In a ritual called Hiwatari, they also walk barefoot across burning embers.

Do you know? The human body produces and destroys about 900 million blood cells every minute; that is, about 15 million every second.

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The Secret to Happiness ... buy someone something.

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In the spirit of the season, here's another reason to get out there & be extra happy. A study at the University of British Columbia in 2008 proved that people found happiness and satisfaction NOT from money they have earned and spent on themselves, but from money they spent on other people. This theory proves an old-time saying from the Bible: “It is better to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

You Yawn Because You Need Oxygen? – No, says researchers.

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State University of New York researchers questioned the old myth that a person yawns because of a need to increase oxygen levels. The researchers concluded that people yawn to allow air in to cool their brains . In their experiment, the researchers found that those who watched others yawn had the urge to yawn as well. However, those who held an ice pack to their forehead or those who breathed with their noses did not have the urge to yawn.

FESTIVALS IN JAPAN - Dec 2

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Kencho-sai In this festival, an offering of birds is made to the deity. The festival has its origins in offerings made by emperor Nintoku when he would return from hunting.

Cellular Phone Radiation Causes Insomnia

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Bengt Arnetz, a Swedish researcher whose finding was published in BBCnews.com in 2008, discovered that radiation your brain receives from using the cell phone before bed can keep you up at night. People, in the study, whose brains were exposed to cell phone radiation not only slept less, but did not reach a state of deep sleep.