お盆 "Obon" A Japanese Buddhist festival
今週はお盆で日本は全国的にお休みモードです。
お盆は8月13日から16日の間、先祖の霊が帰ってくる時期とされ、自分の地元に帰ってお墓参りをしたり、実家に先祖の霊を迎える準備をしたりして、親戚や家族と過ごします。
13日は「迎え火」を焚いてご先祖様の霊をお迎えする日なので、ナスやきゅうりに割り箸を指して牛と馬に見立て乗り物とし、家の前で焚き火などをして、帰ってくる家の目印にしてもらいます。
16日は「送り火」と言って、牛と馬を外に向け、焚き火をしてお家からお送りします。京都の有名な五山の送り火（大文字焼き）は、このお盆に焚かれる火です。
お盆は江戸時代から正月と並んで、お休みをもらえる時期とされ、今でも夏休みと重なって、全国的に都市から地方へ人が大移動する一週間になります。
この時期は、東京がちょっと空いているんですよ。
いろは
This week, Japan is in full holiday mode — it's Obon.
Obon falls between the 13th and 16th of August, and is the time when the spirits of ancestors are believed to return to visit their families. People travel back to their hometowns, visit family graves, and prepare to welcome their ancestors home. It is a time for family — for being together, and for remembering those who came before.
On the 13th, families light a fire called mukaebi — a welcoming flame — to guide the returning spirits home. Cucumbers and aubergines are decorated with chopstick legs to represent horses and cows: the vehicles that carry the ancestors on their journey. The fire outside the house acts as a beacon, so the spirits can find their way back.
On the 16th comes okuribi — the farewell fire. The cucumber horses and aubergine cows are turned to face outward, and another fire is lit to see the spirits gently on their way. The famous Gozan no Okuribi in Kyoto — where enormous bonfires are lit in the shape of kanji characters on five surrounding mountains — is the grandest expression of this tradition. The most well-known of these fires is called Daimonji.
Since the Edo period, Obon has been one of the two great holidays of the year, alongside New Year. Today it overlaps with summer school holidays, and the whole country shifts — a great wave of people moving from cities back to their hometowns for the week.
Which means Tokyo gets wonderfully quiet.
Iroha
