Obon

is a festival in which fires or lanterns are hung to light the way for the departed spirits who come to visit their descendants, who are dancing while wearing masks so that the ancestors, if they wish, can join the festivities without being recognized.

(Obon [Honored lantern'a euphemism for the dead] or bon matsuri [lantern festival]), a festival of both Shint' and Buddhist-Chinese origin, is celebrated around midsummer, usually in mid-July. In neighborhoods and villages, fires or lanterns are hung to light the way for the departed spirits who come to visit their descendants. While they wait, people dance in the streets. In many places, the dancers wear masks or veil their faces in some way, so that the ancestors, if they wish, can join the festivities without being recognized. Many families pay a preliminary visit to their family graves (city people who have migrated from the countryside will often come back to their ancestral villages). The graves are cleaned, and food offerings are made at the grave of rice, pickles, and other vegetarian items, as well as flowers. Chopsticks are thrust upright into the rice bowl. This relates the offering to the upright wooden slats which commemorate the dead in most graveyards. As a consequence, Japanese children are warned early in life not to stick their chopsticks upright into their rice bowls, as it is a symbol of death.

obon, n.All

obon