Health And Longevity

The tradition of passing through a straw or reed ring, chinowa kuguri, originates in the ancient chronicles of Bingo Province (now Okayama Prefecture.) In one of the tales, the simple hero, Somin Shorai, is advised by one of the gods, Susano no mikoto, to protect himself from a raging epidemic by fashioning a hoop made out of reeds and wearing it around his waist. Since the advice came from a god, it came to be believed that straw hoops offer protective and purifying powers. To partake of these powers, one must walk through the hoop tracing a figure eight first in a counter clockwise direction and then once more in a clockwise direction. The purification ceremony takes place on June 30 and July 1.

Can't hurt during a pandemic, can it?