Tarto in Japan

Last week was the obon, which was originally a buddhist ritual to honor the spirits of the ancestors. It has gradually evolved and has now become one of the three main holiday periods in Japan, together with the new year and the golden week, which I've already told about.

The fact that it has become a holiday period doesn't mean that the tradition has been lost and actually, it's still being followed by many people. According to the tradition, the spirits of the departed return during the obon to visit their relatives. Consequently, many people from the cities go back to their home town (while others just use the obon as an opportunity to travel).

The rituals performed vary from region to region, but are roughly the following:

- families clean the tombs of their ancestors

- at night, paper lanterns are placed all the way between the cemetery and the house to guide the spirits

- the meal is served and a seat is reserved to the ancestors

- graves are visited, ceremonies and offerings are held into temples

- a traditional dance, bon odori, is also held

- at the end of the obon, the spirits are guided back with floating lanterns put into rivers or into the sea

Depending on the region, the obon takes places either in july or august.

This time you won't get any picture, since I haven't seen anything! First, I was pretty busy last week. But the real reason is that I wasn't very keen on going anywhere: during the obon and the other common holiday periods, everybody's traveling at the same time and consequently it's crowded everywhere and prices become ridiculously high. I definitely prefer traveling off season, even if that means missing a couple interesting events!