The ”Obon" holiday

A horse "Shoryo-uma" and a cow "Shoryo-ushi"

”Shoryo-nagashi" 

floating lanterns for sending off the spirits of our ancestors

offering sticks of incense

Hello.

It's "Obon" holiday in Japan. "Obon" is a traditional Japanese event when the spirits of ancestors come back and stay with us for a couple of days. I can say it's something like Halloween. 

During the Obon holiday, from August 13 to 16, people go back to their hometowns and visit their family graves. We tell our ancestors that we are doing well and being  appreciative for that.

When we visit a Buddhism grave in Japan, we clean the grave and offer some food, fruit, water or drink, and flowers. And then we light incense sticks and place them in front the grave and put our hands together in prayer while holding Buddhist prayer beads called "jyuzu."

The first photo shows a horse called "Shoryo-uma" made out of a cucumber and a cow "Shoryo-ushi" of an eggplant. Some Japanese people decorate their alter with these horse and cow. It is believed that the horse can help the spirits of the ancestors come back to us quickly, and the cow can carry them slowly with a lot of offerings to the other world.

In "Summer Manner Lesson for Children," which is held this summer, we learned how to visit our graves and offer sticks of incense. I hope the children feel the importance of their lives in this lesson.