What is the best word for 神祭 in English? #NotJapanese 1. God's Festival 2. Offering Day 3. Sacrifice Day 4. Others (Suggestion please) - I couldn't remember the exact detail but it should be just one day - The offering should be some food to the God, no human sacrifice or whatnot [edit] I think I got it. Thanks for the replies~!
I think it depends on the context, because it could mean anything like you mentioned in OP. I'd go with 1 or 2. Maybe even God's Offering (Festival). It can be both Japanese and Chinese because kanji originated from Chinese and some characters are exactly the same as Chinese characters, though the same characters can mean different things.
God's offerings/God's festival I think you should look into the chinese festivals for the actual name, like, the Ghost Festival or Qingming Festival, maybe? This one doesn't know much about festivals
This is not a native Chinese vocabulary. You can choose literal translation, or quote Japanese romaji.
Ah, I'm a chinese here and I don't recall we have a festival like that because specific god has specific name for their festival. Nah, not going to use japanese romaji in a CN novel. Reader's saliva will drown me.
かみ‐まつり【神祭（り）】kami‐macuri 神を祭ること。祭り。 しん‐さい【神祭】siN‐sai 神を祭る儀式。特に、神道の方式で行う祭り。 しんさい【神祭】siNsai 神道の法式によって行う祭礼。 Pronunciation affects meaning.
God Sacrifice, maybe literal translation, but it should be adapted to various situations. *** God Sacrifice= ***神祭
I prefer Sacrifice day, but if it projects too much of a gory image of human sacrifice or animal sacrifice, I think "Worship Day" also works.
My question, is it necessary to emphasize the exact meaning of the 神祭 in English, such as the fact that it is related to the gods/immortal realm and it involves sacrifice? For example, Qing Ming Festival is the most common name for it, but in English it is referred to "Grave/Tomb Sweeping Day" to explain the meaning of Qing Ming. When Japan became Westernized first in 1800s, a lot of Japan constructed definitions for Western concepts written in Kanji were reintroduced into China. And as Japan became popular, a lot of Japanese phrasing became popular. I don't know what the context of the story is, but the author could also be using 神祭 as a general term for a festival day without needing to provide excessive back story. So you can probably name it, "Day of Sacrifice(s)", "Day of Worship", or "Day of the God(s)".