Akutai Matsuri Cursing Festival Held Each December at Atago Shrine in Ibaraki

The Akutai Matsuri, held each December at Atago Shrine in Ibaraki Prefecture, features white-robed Shinto priests walking between shrines as attendees hurl insults at them. The custom is rooted in an Edo-period practice that gave commoners one day a year to vent.