naorai

…usually include a feast (naorai) in which the consecrated offerings of food and drink are consumed by priests and laymen, dancing, theatrical performances, divination, and athletic contests, such as sumo wrestling, archery, either on foot or on horseback, and boat races. The kami is frequently taken out in a…

In the olden days naorai, a symbolic action in which participants held communion with kami by having the same food offered to the deity, came in the middle of the festival ceremony. The custom is still observed sometimes at the Imperial Household and at…