The formal recognition of events is given great importance in Japanese culture. A common ritual, the "hatsumiyamairi", entails a child's first visit to a Shinto shrine. A tradition holds that, if a boy he should be brought to the shrine on the thirty-second day after birth, and if a girl she should be brought on the thirty-third day. Historically, the child was commonly brought to the shrine not by the mother, who was considered impure after birth, but by another female relative; since the late 20th century it has been more common for the mother to do so. Another rite of passage, the "saiten-sai" or "seijin shiki", is a coming of age ritual marking the transition to adulthood and occurs when an individual is around twenty. Wedding ceremonies are often carried out at Shinto shrines. These are called "shinzen kekkon" ("a wedding before the kami") and were popularised in the Meiji period; prior to this, weddings were commonly performed in the home.