Obon

Today is the end of Obon in Okinawa, a sort of Japanese ‘Day of the Dead’ festival that lasts about 3 days [mainland Japan finished theirs a while back, but Okinawa runs on the Lunar calendar].  The festival, like many around the world, has come to center primarily on the gathering of family.  The ancestors are suppose to come and visit, which is why you aren’t allowed to swim in the ocean on this day [the dead apparently come from the sea].  Families put out food and lanterns to greet their dead relatives.

This isn’t a massive festival event but it got me thinking about my ancestors and how lonely they probably get.  The origin of Obon, according to the ever correct wikipedia, comes from a Buddhist disciple named Mokuren.  Using his awesome meditation powers, he looked in on his dead mother in the afterlife.  Seeing she was in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Mokuren was understandably upset.  He made sacrifices and his ghost mom’s situation got better.  Then, he did a happy dance.

Never have I done a happy dance for my dead relatives.  I don’t set food out for them, offer burnings, or even really acknowledge they exist.  I feel like we talk a lot about our dead loved ones watching from above, but never do we seem do anything to honor them or have celebrations for them.  I have a feeling when I get to the great beyond, I’m going to be met by some unhappy elders.

In Okinawa, the end of the festivities is marked with an Eisa dance.  Dressed traditionally, bands travel around side streets dancing and banging drums.  You can hear them from blocks away.  Here are some pics:

Fire Dragon Dance [REDUX]

Since my previous camera had nightmare’s about…well…night, I was unable to take many pictures during the Fire Dragon Dance of Mid-Autumn Festival.  One of my friends, noticing my disappointments said, ‘Oh, you can use my camera to take pictures.’  So, as previously promised, here are those pictures.  I think this is a great note to end my ‘Mid-Autumn Festival’ posts on:

More Lanterns (Mid Autumn Festival)

I came across these lovely lanterns in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST).  Since several people seemed to really like seeing these, I thought I would post them.  Mid-Autumn Festival has already past but some things like this are still around in Hong Kong.  As September ends, they will slowly disappear.  Already, there are no moon cakes it seems. All of these lanterns were part of a single scene located by Victoria Harbour.   Again, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The moon…

Mid Autumn #1 – Fire Dragon Dance

I decided to split up my Mid-Autumn Festival writings into three chunks, each focusing on a different part of the festival that I experienced.  First up, the most exciting – a Fire Dragon Dance!

But first, the legend: [paraphrased from here] Once, in the village of Tai Hang, a typhoon hit and brought a massive plague days before Mid-Autumn festival.  While villagers were suffering from this, a large snake came and ate the livestock.  Some of the villagers said that the snake was the son of the Dragon King.  Believing that the events were connected, the villagers danced for three days and nights during the Mid-Autumn Festival, making a large dragon of sticks and incense and exploding firecrackers.  After three days, the plague was gone.

So, in celebration, the dances are held during Mid-Autumn Festival.  In Tai Hang, near the Tin Hau MTR Station, an entire street was closed off on two ends.  Having received excellent advice to get there early, we managed to get fairly good views of the street – but the area around the streets were already packed tightly.  Entering the street was a giant mobile, decorated with large green flags, that held a large drum.  Flanking this were cymbal players and other instruments.  This sonic beast ran up and down the street, pounding out a continuous rhythm the entire evening.  Slowly, people carrying poles with lanterns (each marked with different characters), came walking down the street, followed by the cutest little girls dressed in purple carrying smaller red lanterns.  These two groups climaxed in a vigorous musical number, as the lanterns circled in the street.  Then…waiting….more drumming…some occasional lantern passersby…

Where is the dragon, I thought?  Already, this had been about an hour long event.  Coated in sweat, sore from careening over shorter people, I was eager for a dragon to appear.  Build up and anticipation was beginning to be replaced by fatigue and dehydration.  Finally, something appeared, but barely within eye shot at the other end of the street.  I could hear the shouts, vaguely smell incense, and make out that something exciting was happening just out of my eyesight.  Waiting and waiting, I decided that dragons are old and sometimes slow to make their way toward you.

Finally, the events came down toward us.  Blasts of heat and incense hit us immediately, and for a moment – it felt like a dragon was really there.  Believe me, the pay off was amazing.  Attached to poles, the enormously long serpent was upheld by at least thirty people.  Long sticks of incense jutted out of the slender body, creating an eerie glow and smoke around the beast.  As it danced, ash fell to the ground.  The dragon dashed along the sides of the road, coiling and coiling, circling itself.  As the head rushed past us, heat and smoke filled my lungs.  After coiling up, with the head in the center, the dragon is lowered as far as people can go without setting it on the ground.  Confetti firecrackers exploded and cheers erupted as the beast sat, momentarily subdued.  Then, a loud whistle, and uncoiling began, the tail twirled up and down, and large balls of fiery incense began spinning again.

Since my current camera apparently has achluophobia, I had to use a friend’s camera for pictures.  I will upload a gallery when I get those.  But for now, be lured by these few photos: