Japanese people's hearts leap in anticipation of the festivals that take place each year in towns and villages throughout the country. Japan was traditionally an agrarian society centered on the cultivation of rice and other crops. People lived by the rhythm of the seasons, and the harvest was a major landmark in farm life. Village festivals gave farming families the chance to take time out from work and enjoy themselves for a while. At some temples and shrines, festivals go back several hundred years. They are relaxing occasions that make people feel the weight of history and give them a sense of the sacred--sensations that are all too often forgotten in the pace of everyday modern life.