Echizen Washi

Our summer holidays are mainly for our ancestors. We call it `o-bon`. `o` can be added when you want to say in a polite way.

Each family belongs to a different Buddhism sect, and mine does to the Zen sect. In our rules for o-bon, we make a small fire at the entrance gate to welcome our ancestors to stay in our house on the 13th, which is the date for starting bon holidays. You can see the horces made of an eggplant and a cucumber.

And on  the 15th or 16th, we do it again for sending off our ancestors to the universe. 

August 15th is also our memorial day for the end of our war. In 1945 on Aug 15th we defeated in the world war and Chinese and Korean people celebrate the date, of course....

So our bon holidays are not really exciting time like they are for the Westerners if you think about the past. But I like this season because I pray for  peace much more than usual.