Bon Odori

   The festival that is probably one of the most celebrated in Hawaii by all generations is known by several names: "The Festival of Lanterns," "The Festival of Souls," "Obon,"and "Bon Odori." But most of the locals just know it as "Bon Dance." Bon dance is a Japanese festival where participants dance around a yagura (a red elevated platform) to pay respects to the spirits of the deceased, who come back to Earth during the Bon Dance season. Like many of the other Japanese traditions brought to Hawaii, Bon Dance was transferred during the plantation age and has been practiced since, with some minor changes to its original practice.
   Although we have a full Bon Dance "season" during the summer, Bon Dance originally took place on one day, but due to the working hours of the plantation workers the festival days were extended and changed to the weekend to accommodate everyone. Likewise, the festival has transformed in such a way that it is not so much of a religious event, but more of a secular event that allows people of different ethnicities and faiths to participate without temple affiliation. However, they still perform a sermon before every Bon Dance in accordance to tradition and to honor recently passed church members of the past year. Many families who belong to a Buddhist temple still practice the religious traditions tied with Bon Dance, such as my own. Every Bon Dance season we'd visit the graves of my great grandparents, pay our respects, light some incense, and clean the gravestone. It is also customary to leave food for the deceased, such as a bowl of rice.
   This practice of leaving food behind on the gravestone originates from an old Buddhist text that states that Mokuren, a monk who could see the souls of the deceased, saw his mother's spirit suffering and starving in the afterlife due to the bad deeds she committed when she was alive. After many failed attempts to try to feed his mother (whose food kept bursting into flame whenever he tried to feed her), he sought the advice of his teacher, who then told him to feed the "priestly spirits" on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in order to free his mother from her suffering. Once he did this, Mokuren saw his mother healthy and well, and dancing with a tray of rice in her hands. It is said that after seeing his mother's happiness, Mokuren and other people joined her in dance, and is said to be the origin story of how Bon Dance came to be.
  Although many of the practices still live on today, many new additions have been made to the Bon Dance tradition. In addition to becoming more secular, many more contemporary songs are being added to the songs used for Bon Dance. Some of these include opening songs to anime, such as Bleach's "Houki Boushi," and Vocaloid songs like "Love & Joy." Likewise, Japanese versions of kpop songs have also been added, most notably Big Bang's "Fantastic Baby." Although Hawaii has done a good job of preserving the religious traditions of the festival, the tradition still continues to grow and take shape to fit into the contemporary age.