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Yesterday was the beginning of the Obon Festival.
My sons made Shyoryo-uma , a horse made out of a cucumber with the wish that the ancestors would come quickly on the horse as houses are fast,
and made Syoryo-Ishii, a cowmade out of an eggplant with the hope that they would carry a lot of offerings and return to the other world slowly.
Then, we set fire,
and lit up a lantern throughout the night to welcome our ancestors.
The cute orange hozuki flower is a staple of the Obon , and because of its shape, the hozuki can be linked to a lantern, serving as a guide to the ancestors.
It is said that the custom of Obon originated when Mokuren, a disciple of Shakyamuni, with his divine power, learned that his mother was suffering in hell, and practiced offerings to alleviate her sins.
It is also said that the first time Obon was held as an event in Japan was in the year 606, when Emperor Suiko held the special ceremony of Obon.
My mother-in-law, who passed away at the time of the changeover from the Heisei era to Reiwa era, loved my kids very much, so she always came to babysit with my son’s favorite melons, snacks, picture books and other goodies.
When I woke up in the morning, I felt something warm and I knew that my mother-in-law is always watching over my children, even though her body was gone.
Looking back on the history of mankind, there have been many hardships in history, such as famines, plagues, wars, and so on.
The fact that we are here today is thanks to our ancestors who overcame such hardships and survived the difficult ages.
My father and mother, my grandfather and grandmother, my great-grandfather and great-grandmother... If I go back my family tree in order, I realize that my life is kept alive in this world with getting the life baton which has been passed down with an immeasurable number of people.
And if we trace back each of our ancestors endlessly, I believe that in the end, all the people in the world are connected as one, as the same ancestor.
Thank you for very much for the life and our ancestors.
And thank you for bland new day!
I hope you have a wonderful Obon holiday with your family.