A 400-year-old tradition: a festival where babies are made to cry took place in Japan

On April 28, Japan hosted the annual Nakizumo Festival, where children cry.

This was reported by SSPDaily.

The sound of a baby crying is the last thing young parents want to hear, but at the 400-year-old Japanese festival, that is the goal. The festival celebrates the belief that crying babies will bring good health and success to children in the future, as well as drive away evil spirits and demons.

Throughout the day, crying babies compete with each other while being held in the arms of sumo wrestlers. The winner is usually the first baby to cry in the ring.

Wearing their tiny sumo belts and aprons, more than 100 babies are carried into the ring, where huge sumo wrestlers hold them and try their best to make them cry. They use a number of techniques, including growling.

However, sometimes children are not afraid, and often even laugh. If they fail to cry within a few seconds, the referee intervenes. He has to go to a new level to try to scare young children by wearing traditional scary masks or making grimaces and shouting something, making them cry.

The festival takes place all over Japan, with rules varying from region to region: in some regions, the child who cries first is considered the loser, while in others, it all depends on which child cries louder and the quieter one loses.

This may seem cruel to outsiders, but it is said that this ceremony protects babies from evil forces and brings them good luck.

There is a saying associated with the holiday that means "crying babies will grow up quickly." Japanese legend says that loud crying of a child drives away evil spirits and ensures that the child grows up healthy and strong.