Moving the gods

One day I heard a lot of people shouting outside, so I looked through the window and saw these group of people saying "washoi washoi!" What are they doing you ask? I wondered the same thing.

I asked my friend and she explained to me that they were moving the gods from one shrine to another all through town. It was raining pretty hard this day, so they have the thing carrying the god covered with plastic, and the monks (?) are also holding umbrellas.

I wonder if they are moving ONE god from one shrine, so it can visit all the shrines throughout town, or if they are moving many different gods from one shrine to another, like changing roommates or something.

It's amazing. You live in a modern world in Japan one moment, then out of nowhere, centries old traditions just pop right into your life like it's absolutely normal. The past and present coexist peacefully. It's pretty cool.