English ⇄ thesaurus

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z   <<  >>

Terms for subject Religion (3849 entries)

Helping Open Peoples Eyes	HOPE
Helping Understand Grief	HUG
Hi-matsuri	Fire festival. A collective term for festivals which involve fire, destroyer of evil and symbol of the descent of divine power. They are held for example to pray for the return of the sun after winter and to dispel evil influences, and are conducted at both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Fire festivals at New Year involve the burning of the seasonal decorations and divination for the coming year. An example of a shrine-based no hi-matsuri (new year fire festival) is the -yo (demon-night) festival at the Tamasu-jinja, Fukuoka. Huge pine torches one and a half metres across called are set alight and hoisted up, supported on oak poles. The ritual "closing" of Mt. Fuji at the end of the climbing season is marked by the lighting of several huge taimatsu during the Yoshida no hi-matsuri at the Fuji-sengen jinja, Yamanashi, August 26-27th. See
Hi-no-kami	Kami of fire in general, sometimes identified with Homusubi no kami but including Buddho-Taoist deities such as kojin the "rough deity" or god of the hearth who can control fires and who was the focus of a popular medieval cult. See also no kami
Hibuse matsuri	A festival to ward off fires, held at the Osaki jinja, Miyagi on April 29th. It features a dance called hibuse-no-tora-mai or "dance of the fire-preventing tiger" which resembles a See also hibuse matsuri
Hidaka hibuse matsuri	The warding-off-fire festival of Hidaka, Iwate prefecture, based at the Hidaka jinja. Floats called hayashi-yatai (festival music floats) carry tiered rows of young girls who beat small drums, while others have flute and drum bands
Hie jinja	Hie shrines. There are numerous Hie throughout Japan, branch shrines of what is now called the Hie on Mt. Hiei outside the old capital Kyoto, which enshrines Aspects of the Hie jinja in Tokyo which is regarded as the protector shrine of the current imperial palace are described under sanno matsuri
Hie taisha	The main Hie shrine on Mt. Hiei, Shiga prefecture. See
High And Mighty	HAM
High Guardian Angel	HGA
High Impact Praise	HIP
High School Ministry	HSM
Higher Intelligence	HI
Himachi	Waiting for the sun. A popular religious custom in which a group of devotees meets at a member's home on certain days such as the 15th of the first, fifth and ninth months of the lunar calendar, remain awake all night and complete their devotions at sunrise. Since the period Shinto priests have usually been involved in himachi. See also
Himorogi	A form of elementary, perhaps prototypical, shrine or comprising an unpolluted space marked out by stakes and or surrounded by evergreens, with a sacred tree at the centre as the "seat" of the kami. Nowadays the sakaki branches may be arranged on an eight-legged table (hassokuan) hung with shide to represent the There are numerous suggested etymologies for himorogi; the term may refer equally to the "tree" or to the marked space. See also
Hina-matsuri	"Dolls Festival'. The other name, derived from the seasonal day (see Gosekku) is momo-no-sekku. In modern times Girls" Day. Models of dolls in court costume with tiny accessories such as palanquins and tableware are displayed and offerings of peach-blossom and rice-cakes are placed before the display. Hishi-mochi (lozenge-shaped rice cakes) shiro-zake (white sake, made from sake and rice malt) and other special miniature sweets made for this ceremony echo an earlier custom of going out for a picnic. The older form of the festival still practised in some areas involves making paper or clay dolls and floating them downriver on straw floats to carry away the threat of illness to daughters of the household (cf. hitogata practices) Thus at the Awashima jinja, Wakayama on hina-matsuri, several thousand dolls offered to the shrine during the year are floated out to sea in boats
Hindu Unified Family	HUF
Hinoki	"Tree of fire'. Chamaecyparis obtusa, the hinoki cypress. "Fire" refers to its colouring. It is regarded as sacred for its use in shrine building. A conical conifer which grows to 20 metres, it has stringy red-brown bark, and bears aromatic dark green scale-like leaves with silver sides and small yellow-brown cones. See also
Hiogi	A plain fan which forms part of the formal attire of a Shinto priest. It is made of narrow strips of tied with thread and imitates the type of fan used by aristocrats. There is a brightly painted version (akomeogi) used by priestesses
Hirano jinja	It enshrines the tutelary deity of Kyoto, moved there from Nagaoka in 794 with the transfer of the capital. The procession takes place at cherry-blossom time, on April 10th