WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -The word matsuri can refer to any occasion for offering thanks and praise to a deity at a shrine. It comes from a word meaning ‘to entertain’ or ‘to serve’. Matsuri is also used to refer to Shinto festivals.

Detailed explanation-2: -Japan is a country of festivals. Known as matsuri () in Japanese, these events celebrate or commemorate the changing of the seasons, historical events, and traditional culture, and pretty much every city, town and neighborhood has their own, many of them going back hundreds of years or more.

Detailed explanation-3: -There are countless local festivals (, matsuri) in Japan because almost every shrine celebrates one of its own. Most festivals are held annually and celebrate the shrine’s deity or a seasonal or historical event.