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Shunbun no Hi (Spring Equinox)
The Shinto spring equinox — celebrating balance and visiting ancestral graves.
📅 March 20
✦ Why It Matters
Shunbun no Hi is a national holiday marking the spring equinox. A time to celebrate the return of spring, honor nature, and visit family graves during the Buddhist-Shinto Higan week of gratitude for the dead.
✦ How It Is Observed
Visiting family graves, cleaning and offering flowers, eating ohagi (sweet rice balls), nature walks, prayers at shrines.