Children's Celebration in Japan (known as Shichigosan Blessing) is among the most colorful rituals in the world. Every November parents take their 3 and 5 year-old boys and 3 and 7 year-old girls, dressed up in their best traditional Japanese kimono and fashionable costumes, to local shrines to receive divine blessings. This charming event, which is celebrated all over the country, remains one of the happiest memories of everyone's childhood.

     This traditional event goes back to ancient Japan, and a ritual called kami-oki, where 3 year-old children whose hair had been shaved, started growing it. There was also a ritual called hakamagi, in which 5 year-old boys wore hakama-clothes for the started using an obi-belt instead of a string attached to their child's clothes. And in the Obioki ritual, 7 year-old girls started wearing an obi-belt.

     These rituals were carried out with the which boys and girls, who are pure "god-like beings until seven years old," according to a Japanese proverb, to grow from fragile little children into sturdy big ones. Through these rituals, parents offered gratitude for their children's healthy growth, safety and also prayed for their future happiness.

     Parents' desire for their children's sound growth and prayer for their future happiness is universal but Japan has made it into a colorful annual event which brings joy and smiles to the entire nation.