In the old days, Obon and New Year’s Day were very special, very extraordinary events with a tasteful atmosphere.
Families would go out to visit graves after dark, and with only candles and lanterns to light the way, it was like a procession of fox brides. The atmosphere and sentiment were commonplace.
Nowadays, you can just drive there in the light of day, visit the graves, and then go home and have a drink.
In the past, Japanese people were able to immerse themselves in an environment where “emotion makes the head (mathematician Kiyoshi Oka),” but what about the sensibilities of Japanese people today?
In the old days, the event was to welcome the ancestors with candlelight from their graves to the lanterns on the night of August 13, have them stay on the 14th and 15th, and return to the Shinano River with offerings on the afternoon of the 16th.
It was the ancestor who rode on fire on the way there and on water on the way back home.
In the old days, when offerings were poured into rivers, nature’s tolerance was greater and there was no plastic, so decomposition would have been faster.
Fun things about the Bon Festival
Since there were no refrigerators in those days, watermelon, peaches, tomatoes, and citron (cider) chilled in a well or ground water (natural gas well) were a treat. And white dumplings with chilled red bean paste.
Nowadays, every day is like Obon and New Year’s, so we forget what it is to be thankful for affluence.
This abundance is made possible by the massive consumption of energy, in exchange for the intense heat and heavy rains.
In summer, well water replaced the refrigerator.
What I didn’t like about Obon
It was only 4 days during the Obon period (Aug. 13-16), but I felt it was hard because I was forbidden to do and play every day.
1. don’t kill animals!
I spent every day fishing and catching fish (nets). I used to wake up at 3:00 in the morning to fish! And catching dragonflies, grasshoppers, and cicadas was also prohibited during the Bon festival.
No swimming in the river!
Swimming in the Shinano River every morning and afternoon was a daily routine during the summer vacation, but it was also prohibited.
I felt that the Bon period was long enough to take away all the fun.
Summer starts with fishing every morning.
Only a former bad boy who killed insects and fish for fun as a child would remember his friends who are gone due to environmental changes?
playing with natural gas
In summer, natural gas well water was so cold that it replaced a refrigerator.
In the old days, natural gas was everywhere in the Echigo Plain. After it rained, natural gas would erupt into puddles. It was fun to light it on fire with a match and make it explode.
One time there was quite an explosion and the fire reached my face and I smelled burning hair, so I immediately dipped my face in a puddle of water to cool it down and went home.
Every morning before school, my grandmother would draw my eyebrows for me. I think it took about a month to get back to normal. I have never painted my eyebrows since then.
The bobbing and gassy wetlands seem to have disappeared from the Echigo Plain. Is it desertification of the countryside?
They were playing dangerously.
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I longed to see the candlelight procession from Obon celebration of times past. I think it must have been very beautiful and peaceful to watch.
Also, I had sympathy for the boy with burnt eyebrows! ( ╹O╹ )
Thank you for the reminiscences of the good old days.
(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)
I wish it was still 1963. (Laughs)
Mr. JAMES.
Thank you for taking a look at my blog.
There may be a lot of blurbs from old memories.
It is a proof that I am getting old.
Please come visit me in the spring.
Kawamata