Right now in Japan, many companies have days off (Satoshi does not). This is to participate in the O-bon Festival. It isn't the usual festival celebrations that occur around Japan.
O-bon is usually between August 13 and August 15. It is a time to return to your hometown, hold Buddhist services for your ancestors, visit their graves, thank them for watching over you over the past year. At the beginning, a sacred fire welcomes the ancestors' souls and at the end, a bonfire is used to see them off. In Kyoto, there is a big event called Daimonji where they burn different symbols into 5 different mountains surrounding Kyoto's town. This is the okuri-bi (the fire to see off ancestors and marks the end of O-bon)
When visiting the graves, offerings are given such as flowers, some of their favorite sweets, or sometimes even sake (rice wine) and are placed at the foot of the graves. A lot of cemetaries do not allow food or drink items to be left at the graves because of all the crows and rodents.
On Sunday, we didn't get a chance to visit Satoshi's family grave but we did go to visit his parents instead. It was nice chance to visit with them.
Hope you all have a nice week.
4 comments:
just saw the pictures of the mini purces you made! Oh my goodness they are just awesome.
You are so very talented plus you cook!
Have a wonderful week.
Francy
Thanks so much Francy! I like your blog too.
reading your post makes me miss the obon festivals in l.a. they seem to not resemble the real ones in japan, tho. i always liked to eat the udon made by the community mothers and those drummettes with sweet and sour sauce. (i just realized that is not very japanese) i love the bbq teriyaki chicken! and the games! and the taiko drums! i used to have to dance at the parade too.
Hi Bourgogne,
I think the festivals you had in L.A. might resemble the kind we have in Hawaii. Awesome food. And we used to have to dance at least once to get shaved ice (sno-cones).
Take care.
Kat
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