Bon Odori

Last week it was Bon Odori,  an event that's part of the Obon Festival.

The car park area of our harbor was turned into a "dance parlor" with of course a "mobile shrine"

(picture above).

The "dances" are a couple of Line Dances of which only 1 is "understandable" for us.

Any way we had a good time and the weather was perfect.

Sorry no pix from the dances as we were busy ..

......dancing;-)

Guess when and where we got these flowers from???

Note the rain...it has been pouring now on-and-off for 1 week.

About Obon and Bon Odori:  ( from wikipedia, thanx)

There are several traditional dances in Japan, but the one of the most famous and common dance is Bon dance, which is called "Bon Odori" in Japanese. People dance Bon Dance in the Bon Festival. The Bon Festival is held every summer, in every district in every city.

Bon means welcoming ancestors' souls and holding a memorial service for the souls. There is a Bon week in August every year, and Bon continues for about a week. During Bon, sometimes all relatives of family gather and hold a memorial service for their ancestors, and enjoy being in a reminiscent mood. This traditional comes from Buddhism in China.

The Bon Festival is held during in Bon week, and people gathers at the near open-space or the parks, and dance with traditional Japanese music. The music should be happy music to welcome the ancestor's souls, and people have a duty to make a happy, mysterious, and welcoming mood. Moreover, the Bon Dance should be held in the night because Japanese people believe that ancestors' souls come back in the night.

The technology in Japan has developed in a hundred years, but Japanese people have never forgotten the traditional heart, and taking place Bon Festival and Bon Dance every summer. Japanese people will continue to venerate this traditional, and to respect the soul of their ancestors