Photograph by luciole at Inkstone
Luciole writes:
The lantern floating – a sending off ceremony for the souls of our ancestors who have made a brief return visit to this world during the Bon period – took place this evening on the river. It is organized every year by a Buddhist temple to which my family belongs. My sister went with a lantern as usual. And this time I went as well with my camera. A few hundred people gathered by the river with their lit lanterns and started to float them away in a quiet and orderly manner. Our lantern is for our dead parents. Other lanterns are for others, perhaps, for their grandparents, parents, wives, husbands, children or babies. They are all going back to the world of the dead again until next Bon arrives.
More Toro Nagashi (lantern stream) photos:
Forest Hills, Jamaica Plain, MA by Muddy River
What a beautiful and moving tradition this is. I would love to be able to honor my parents this way. It would be rather fitting, after releasing their ashes to the ocean off Kauai, one of their favorite places.
One Response
These are just beautiful. I could see these as an exhibit… or at the very least on a calendar or note cards