Japan has an annual festival that draws in crowds from all over: the Festival of the Steel Phallus. The annual event has been around since 1969, and, in addition to being a popular event for tourists, helps raise awareness about safe sex, celebrates fertility, and raises funds for HIV research. Steel phallus statues line the streets and parades abound the city of Kawasaki. Everything from phallus-shaped vegetables to phallus keychains are out in full swing.

It all dates back to the 17th century, with a legend that has been told for generations. The legend goes that a demon was hiding inside the vagina of a woman who didn’t reciprocate his feelings of love, and the demon bit off the phallus of her husband as revenge. The same thing happened with her second husband. The woman wanted to break the spell, so she worked with a blacksmith to create a steel phallus, in an effort to break the curse—and the teeth of the demon.