Sunday, August 18, 2013

Santa Barbara Obon Festival

My cousins invited me to go to the local Obon festival a few weeks ago.  I had never even heard of this before!  Obon is the Japanese Buddhist custom of honoring the spirits of your deceased ancestors.  I didn't even know we had a Buddhist temple so I was curious to check it out.

We enjoyed watching and listening to these women.

She danced.  It was slow moving but fascinating.

The decor in the temples is always gorgeous!

My cousins Norman and Tamie, me, my mom


Have you ever been to an Obon festival before?  I am hoping to either go back to this one next year or go to one in a nearby city.

2 comments:

Debby@Just Breathe said...

I have never been but it looks like it was very interesting.

Graceful Mom said...

Obon is festive season in Japan. In fact, Japan's offices were closed for a whole week last week for Obon!

That's when people go back to their hometowns to visit graves of their relatives who passed away.

And lots of eating and Bon-odori (dancing!)

Grace @ Sandier Pastures