Sunday, January 03, 2016

An awe-inspiring experience

 

My final tour for 2015 was for four pleasant young adults from Mexico.

I showed them around two spots they wanted to visit.
The first spot was Atsuta Jingu shrine, which has a 1900-year-long history. They were impressed very much by the spiritual atmosphere in the huge wooded grounds.
I explained the basic history of Atsuta shrine and how regularly visiting shrines is part of daily life in Japan.

They seemed to enjoy the divine atmosphere just as they might appreciate the spiritual places in their home country.  And there, we had a strange experience when we drew an omikuji -- a slip of paper which tells your fortune -- at the shrine.

 

 Omikuji give some useful advice that you should keep in mind in your everyday lives.
 Interestingly, it tells you what your lucky color is too.

 While I was translating the content of the fortunes for each of the four, they found out they were somehow wearing the exact colors that their fortune predicted for them. Purple, silver, dark blue and green.

 Amazing! Was it just a coincidence? But wait! Coincidence rarely occurs to four people together at the same time. No matter what, it was an awe-inspiring experience for them.

"The deities of Atsuta shrine are welcoming you."

They really liked that this happened to them. I was happy for them, too.