For my presentation, I will discuss three holidays. Obon and Hinamatsuri are very popular to Japan, and Honensai is celebrated only in Okinawa. I chose to talk about these particular holidays because I have always wanted to celebrate Obon, but every time I visited Japan, I left before Obon began; I think that Hinamatsuri is interesting because it is a celebration for girls which is not something that is celebrated in America. Also, on my previous visits to Okinawa, I was able to participate in Honensai and I wanted to share my experiences.
Obon, is celebrated on August 13-15. It is a Buddhist
event that honors the spirits of ancestors. Obon is also
known as the "Festival of Souls" and the "Feast
of Lanterns." Obon has its origins in Buddhist China
but in the seventh century, the festival was introduced in Japan.
It is believed that the spirits return home to visit their relatives
during this time and therefore offerings are made to welcome the
spirits home. According to Buddhist legend, for one day during
the year on August 15, the iron pot in hell is opened for the
deceased. This is a very important holiday for the Japanese because
the ancestors are greatly respected and many believe in the supernatural
powers of spirits over the living. To help guide the returning
spirits home, fires are lit at the entrances of homes and lanterns
are lit inside the homes. In some areas, a path of paper lanterns
is made from the graves of the ancestors to their families' homes.
Vegetables and fruits and other specially prepared foods are placed
on Buddhist altars, or butsudan, as offerings to the spirits.
Obon is a time that is also heavy in prayer. People gather
at their altars to pray for their ancestors and memorial services
are held to honor the spirits.
A religious folk dance, called the bon-odori, is performed
at Obon. For the bon-odori, people like to dance
to traditional folk music around a scaffold, or yagura,
that is set on the ground. Each area in Japan has its own bon-odori.
The purpose of the dance is to help comfort the spirits. Recently,
modern music and dances and sometimes even foreign music have
been incorporated into the bon-odori. The yukata
summer kimono are worn during the celebration. Yukata are
informal kimono because they are made from cotton instead of the
traditional silk. Most Japanese prefer to wear yukata for
summer festivals. Much eating and drinking goes on during Obon.
The hanabi, or fireworks display, is also very popular
during the summer in Japan and occurs each night of Obon.
Another important tradition characteristic of Obon is toro
nagashi, or the floating paper lanterns. At the end of Obon,
toro nagashi are lighted with candles and floated on the
river or the sea to help the ancestors find their way back to
their world. In the Hiroshima area, colored paper lanterns are
lighted at the graves of their ancestors. White lanterns are reserved
for those who have passed away between August 16 of the previous
year until August 15 of the current year. At Obon, many
people like to return to their hometowns and thus it has become
a time for family gathering. Obon is also one of the very
few times that Japanese employees are allowed a vacation. The
Japanese government offices and most other business and companies
close for about one week for the holiday.
Hinamatsuri is another holiday in Japan. Hinamatsuri
is known as the "Doll's Festival" or "Girl's Festival."
(Hina means "dolls" and matsuri means
"festival.") Formally, it is called Mommo no Sekku
which means "Peach Festival". The festival takes place
on March 3 and celebrates the girl's growth, health, and happiness.
On this holiday, families with young girls display hinaningyo
which are special dolls, peach blossoms, and shirozake
or white sake to wish happiness to the girls.
The festival is said to have originated 1000 years ago from a
Chinese custom in which bad fortune is transferred to dolls and
then removed by abandoning the dolls on a river. Originally, dolls
made of paper were used in nagashi-bina, the practice of
floating paper dolls down a river. The paper dolls were supposed
to represent each person and any ill-fortunes the person might
encounter in the coming year were wished onto the doll. The doll
was then floated down the river to take all of the ill-fortunes
with it.
Hinamatsuri was not widely celebrated outside of cities
until after the Meiji era (1868 1912) when the hinaningyo
became merchandized in the Edo period. Prior to that
time, the festival was for both boys and girls. The purpose of
the hina are to protect girls from sickness and misfortune.
The hinaningyo are dressed in the fashion of members of
the Heian court and are displayed on tiers covered in a
scarlet carpet. There are typically 15 dolls that make up the
court: the Emperor and the Empress, two ministers, three court
ladies in waiting, five musicians, and three guards. Hinaningyo
are very expensive and a full set can cost as much as 10,000
US dollars, or one million yen.
At Hinamatsuri, the young girls invite their friends to
a party and drink shirozake (sweet white mild rice wine)
and eat chirashi sushi and hishi-mochi, or three-layered
diamond-shaped rice cakes. The white layer of the cake symbolizes
snow, the green symbolizes new growth, and the pink layer represents
the peach flowers. Chirashi sushi is seafood spread over
sushi rice. In Osaka, it is popular to eat makizushi,
or rolled sushi. One month after the festival day, the Hina
dolls are put away because of the superstition that the longer
one waits to put them away, the longer it will be before the girl
gets married.
The boys also have their own festival day but it has also become
a celebration for all children. It is called Kodomo-no-hi,
which takes place on May 5. Kodomo-no-hi is a much more
popular celebration that Hinamatsuri since it occurs during
Golden Week with several other festivals. Hinamatsuri usually
occurs on a school day so it is not a very big celebration.
Honensai is a festival native to Okinawa. It is
celebrated during the month of June. The exact date of the event
is decided upon each year by the villagers. Honensai is
a celebration when farmers thank the gods for their good harvest
the previous year and also to pray for a good crop the following
year. It originated to help the villages in their battles against
the typhoons and droughts that occur every year. The celebration
takes place annually at Ogan which is a specific place
in the village chosen to hold religious ceremonies, similar to
a church-like setting. A pig is killed for the holiday and the
women in the village get together to prepare all different kinds
of foods made from pork. It is also popular to drink rice milk.
A special dance, called honenmatsuri is performed by the
villagers. They dance in a circle wearing hachimaki or
rice straw crowns on their heads. The yukata summer kimono
is also worn. The celebration of eating, drinking, dancing, and
singing lasts until midnight. Honensai is no longer very
popular in Okinawa due to the diminishing population of farmers,
but it is still exists in certain villages.
America does not have any of these same celebrations. The closest holiday to Obon would probably be Memorial Day in which those who were killed during wars are remembered. However, America does not have a celebration to remember all of the people who have died. There is no celebration for children in America either. America has Mother's Day and Father's Day and also Grandparent's Day. Thanksgiving in America is somewhat similar to Honensai since it is a time for thanking God for the food He has provided for us.
Websites used:
http://www.calstatela.edu/orgs/japan/activity/hinamatsuri.html
http://www.click.or.jp/~riris/net_e/e_hinadx.htm
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2281.html
http://www-japan.mit.edu/mit/culture-notes/Events.html
http://www.kcc.hawaii.edu/~jclub/festival/obon.htm