Watanagashi Festival
The Watanagashi Festival (綿流し祭, Cotton Drifting Festival) is an annual festival in Hinamizawa and serves as a fixed point in every story of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. The festival, while outwardly innocent, coincides with a series of gruesome murders that occur in Hinamizawa: the dam construction site murder, the dam supporters' accident, the priest's death, and the murder of the housewife. It's purpose as a fixed point in Higurashi's story arcs makes the Festival analogous to Beatrice's letter in Umineko no Naku Koro ni.
| Watanagashi Festival | |
|---|---|
 The Watanagashi Festival at night | |
| Official name | Watanagashi Festival (綿流し祭) |
| Observed by | Hinamizawa |
| Type | Cultural |
| Significance | Praises Hinamizawa's guardian deity Oyashiro-sama |
| Observances | Cotton drifting |
| Date | June 19 |
Trivia
- The word wata in Watanagashi is typically read as 綿, which means cotton. However, wata can also be read as 腸, which means guts, intestines, or more simply, organs. By reading wata this way, the Watanagashi Festival is given the more gruesome translation of "organ-drifting festival".