Festival of Broken Needles

How quickly the years go.  It doesn't seem very long ago that I was writing a post about the Japanese tradition of hari-kuyo, the Festival of Broken Needles, and here we are on 8th February again.  You can read the post here, with all the details and there are some great photos of a ceremony here.

This year I have been putting my bent, blunt and broken needles in a little cylindrical tin and today I've thanked them, wrapped them and settled them down to rest.  The little bag is decorated with Cretan Stitch and Herringbone Stitch and is my TAST2012 piece for the past two weeks.  I've put a loop on it so that it can hang with my other TAST "baubles" (which are now on various themes, not all Christmas).  I loved doing the Herringbone, I could get quite a good rhythm going but the Cretan made me think - thread under the needle, thread over the needle, oops, try again....it needs more practice as I think it's a nice stitch.  This week the TAST stitch is......Chevron Stitch.

Australian designer, stitcher and all round textile wonder woman, Lynette Anderson, has posted about her meeting with our sensei, Bryan, take a look here.
Another great report on the Tokyo Quilt Festival is here.   Better make yourself a cup of coffee!

Hari-kuyo

From Susan Fletcher
www.aboutfuroshiki.com
www.sashikostitchers.com
www.alderspringdesign.com
Alderspring Design

              

February 8 is the Festival of Broken Needles (Hari-Kuyo) in Japan.  It is the day when women gather to lay their broken needles to rest in a decorated bed of tofu.

This is a 400 year old tradition, and continues yet. Women will gather to lay their broken needles to rest, and to wish to honor them more by becoming more careful and skilled in their sewing in the year to come.

Why tofu? As far as I can work out it is probably because tofu is soft, so by laying the needles in tofu they are given a gentle resting place after all their hard work.

This festival derives from the cultural respect for the small and everyday objects.  Sometimes the resting place for the needles will be three tiers, the bottom containing other small sewing tools, the middle holding the tofu to receive the broken needles and the top containing sweets or baked goods as offerings.

Another idea I encountered while looking for information about this festival was the idea that as women sew they often think about their secret sorrows and hardships, and these thoughts go into their needles.  As they ceremonially lay the broken needles to rest, they may also lay these sorrows to rest. 

This is an invitation to all of you to join me on Feb 8 in pausing for a little while to honor our broken needles and pins by doing something with them. 

On Feb 8 take a bit of time to pause and reflect on the work and the pleasure all your different needles and pins give you, and join us in honoring these simple hardworking tools.  

Here are some suggestions for how you might do that:

-make your own broken needle resting place with a block of firm tofu and decorations

-make a small applique or stitchery about (broken) needles, or collage with broken needles

-make a new needle case

-collect together and organize you pins and needles

-simply make an artistic photograph of your needles, pins, pincushions, needle cases...

Whatever you choose to do, take a photograph and email it to me. I will be posting the photographs here until the end of February. You can include a short sentence or two to accompany it.  

For links to more about the Festival of Broken Needles go to Sashiko Stitchers and look for the links in the right sidebar. 

I am, of course, hoping you will send me photographs to put on the sashiko stitchers site!  I will post them until the end of February. 

Email them to either address

sue@aboutfuroshiki.com

susan@sashikostitchers.com 

Added 7th February 2011 - 

This is what I have done for hari-kuyo this year:

I lined a small box with a piece of wadding and then laid my needles and pins to rest on it, thanking them for the work they have done and what they have helped me create during the past year.

I made a small quilt for the pins and needles and covered them with it.

Finally I put the lid on the box and tied it with ribbon.

Hari-kuyo

Today, 8th February, is Hari-kuyo in Japan, which I posted about earlier and Debbie has a great article about this Japanese broken needle festival, with photographs, at stitchtress.  Well worth a look.

Hari-kuyo and Respect for Selvedges

I have found out some wonderful cultural traditions related to sewing in Japan.
The first relates to making kimono and is known as  "respect for the selvedges".  No material is cut away when making garments, the lengths of fabric are therefore kept intact and the item can more easily be remade for another person.
If any tacking is needed when making a garment it will be left in place in the finished item - if it is needed to make the garment it must be a valuable part of the garment. 
When kimono are laundered they are taken apart.  When clean they are remade, using the same thread through the same holes. 
Finally, I have just read about Hari-kuyo.  This is a festival which takes place in at shrines in Japan on
8th February annually and translates as the "festival of broken needles".  Women would take a break from their daily work to show their gratitude and respect to old, broken and rusty needles, usually by putting them to rest in a bed of tofu.  Ladies are also able to "bury" their secrets with their needles.  Some photographs and more details can be found here and here.