This year, Portland Japanese Garden will celebrate O-bon, the Spirit Festival on August 15 and 16. The evening begins festively in the Cultural Village, with live music. Representatives from Oregon Buddhist Temple will guide visitors in traditional Bon-odori dancing. After the dance,  guests will light the tōrō nagashi lanterns in memory of departed family and friends.

THE SPIRIT FESTIVAL

O-Bon is a 1,300 year-old Japanese Buddhist festival that honors the spirits of one’s ancestors. Each year from August 13-15, Buddhist services are held at temples and homes throughout Japan to pray for one’s ancestors, particularly those who have died within the past year. This serves as a reminder of the importance of family ties, as a gesture of respect for those who have gone before, and as an acknowledgment of the brevity and preciousness of life as a family. In traditional beliefs, the spirits of the ancestors come back to their homes to be reunited with their family during O-Bon. At the end of the festival, candles, lanterns, and other fires are lit to guide the spirits back to the heavens.

A WELCOMING DANCE

O-Bon is associated with a type of dancing called the Bon-odori. Originally a folk dance to welcome the spirits of the dead, the tradition varies from region to region. Each region has a local dance, as well as its own unique music. The movements of these dances, however, are universally simple and participation is usually diverse — with young and old, formally-trained and novice dancers all taking part.

A RIVER OF LIGHT

Tōrō-nagashi, a ceremony of floating lanterns, is celebrated in many regions on the last night of O-bon. Floating paper lanterns are lit with candles and released into a river or the sea to guide the ancestral spirits back to the spirit world.