Today and most of this week I have been teaching Japanese people all about Halloween � mostly just the good stuff� candy, costumes and parties. Today I got a very interesting reciprocal culture lesson from my Vice Principal. He taught me about 神�月 (kannazuki) which is what the Japanese name for October is. What the name and those characters mean is � the month of the absence of gods. There is a good reason the gods are absent. During October, all of Japan's 800 or so gods all go to one shrine in southern Japan called Izumo for a meeting (from what I know about Japanese gods it is probably actually a big piss up). So quite logically the people that live around Izumo have a different word for October: 神有月 (kamiari) the month in the presence of Gods.
After showing an interest in神�月 I was then told about Shiｍozuki 霜月 the month of frost � November. Then the less straightforward "month of the running Buddhist monk" which is December.
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