From August 13 to 16 in all my country there is the summer vacation, especially for those who work throughout the year. So many people go home because there is a very special event to meet them. Those who live far away, start out a couple of days before and return to the family home to be with their loved ones.
These are days of crowds at the airports, the planes are filled with travelers: a kind of exodus toward families, so many japaneses can return and celebrate together.
The party that the Japanese people are preparing to celebrate is the Obon: the feast of the dear departed. A recurrence dedicated to deceased relatives: a bit as your November 1th of the deads and of All Saints' Day, or Halloween's pagan feast.
In Japanese tradition, the spirits of deceased relatives, your souls in the West, with the death transmigrate in what you Westerners name paradise.
The descendants, with this feast and its liturgies, express their gratitude to the world of afterlife, because the spirits of their deceased relatives have gone to heaven and not in hell.
The preparation is meticulous and accurate. In my town, for example, around 11 and 12 August, you start to do a total cleaning of the family tomb. On each grave is placed a lantern and cemeteries at night becomes interesting places.
Also in the house are placed the large white lanterns of different shapes, in front of the butsudan: an altar that we Japanese use to pray for our deceased relatives.
Then, we start from 13 August in attend every morning and every evening the family tomb, to treat it in every detail: putting flowers, changing the water. And this we do every day of the Obon feast.
When I was a child, I remember that like almost all children for the occasion weared a yukata: a kimono made of cotton for the summer and I went to the tomb holding in his hands a small lantern, from which you could see the glow of a small flame.
On the evening of 13 August, in front of houses, we put it a small bonfire to invite the spirits of ancestors, grandparents, parents, siblings and children who return home. Every fire of family serves to locate the house of origin to the dear departed.
Then, on 14 and 15 August, we behave as if the spirits of the deceased family are at home with us, so we offer them food and drink with deference while we dine in the morning and evening.
Also, you go to the Buddhist temple for bring libations there too.
Late in the evening, out of the house, every neighborhood organizes the Obon dance, with people of all ages dancing together in a circle around a high canopy of wood or bamboo, where above there is an old man who sings (look here).
Some drums give the rhythm. Each city has a different dance, usually very slow. This dance symbolizes the joy that the spirits of the dead are feeling for be escaped from hell.
In the evening of August 16, will turn a small fire in front of the house, but this time to greet the spirits of the dead who come back in the world of afterlife. And thus ends the Obon's feast.
That's why for us Japanese August is the most important period of the summer. It is the mystical moment when the whole family gets together: those who live and those who are no longer with us.
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