As I’ve mentioned before, the annual Fire Festival (Bugum Toobu or Bugum Kyuu) is one of my favorite cultural events (see 2015, 2014). It’s a wonderful mix of traditional, ancient order and wild, youthful antics.
This year’s event was a bit of a let down because of the weather. Around 6pm a huge thunderstorm rolled through and poured for two hours. They finally began the festivities around 9pm and it was still drizzling. Since folks weren’t able to gather dry grass at the last minute (no one plans ahead for these things) there wasn’t much participation.
I’ve been shooting video and photos each year and I’m considering going out to a village next year for a change of scenery. I’d like to eventually put together a little documentary video like the Zigi Ŋmeebu courtyard pounding one.