Buddhist Festival of the Dead and...

In Hiroshima Prefecture, during the week of Obon, the Buddhist Festival of the Dead, "bon toro/盆灯篭" are placed around gravesites by relatives and friends. These paper lanterns are purchased and placed to remember and honor those who have passed away. While I am a Christian, and a pastor, I have a strange affection for these colorful, paper lanterns. Maybe it's just the fact that just once a year, these colorful objects of light, seem to celebrate life, in a place where death is known to reign.

The white lanterns indicate someone who has died within the last year, and the multi-colored ones, are for those who passed away more than a year ago.

Last year I stumbled upon a huge cemetery, just a few kilometers from our home. This morning as I respectfully walked through the cemetery, camera in hand, I found the gravesite of a Christian. The gravestone was engraved with "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." That one makes quite a statement in the middle of thousands and thousands, of whom in all likelihood, had never known Jesus Christ as a certain a Christian named "Hironaka" did.

Gripped,
Kevin

Delivering the Lanterns?













To get an idea of how big this cemetery is, click on this pict!