A Freezing Japanese Shinto Purification Ritual

For the last 30 years in Eastern Canada, I have daily thrown 10 buckets of tap water over myself. The best months are December to March when the water is at freezing point. Thrown on the head, it is a cold orgasm. I have not 'caught a cold' for 30 years. Wish I had done it earlier. I shall be 80 in a couple of weeks.

Nothing wrong with a little ritual mortification.

My family has a tradition where on the first good snow you run around the outside of your house barefooted. And we're a normal, everyday American family, but I don't think this is something normal families do.. (Our family tradition is that you can't catch a cold the whole year if you do it, and it normally works! Weird.)

no family is normal cuz it just depends on how were you raised , for me, running barefoot in the snow is crazy but for other ppl isnt

congrats you've just discovered nihilism =]

its call missogi i think =P

yep - but I call it freakin' cold!

Very dedicated to their religion. Not many people in America would do this for theirs..

True, but being too dedicated to a religion can be a bad thing. The outcome can be seen in today's world and from the past.

OUCCH