Japan is the home of trends, fads and crazes, so we always keep a beady eye on our Oriental friends way out East.

Assuming the recent stories of Jimmy Savile’s escapades haven’t led to parents banning their children from knocking on that weird neighbour’s door, there’s a fair chance that you’ll get a bang on your door tonight, and have to donate sweets for the guy or risk a few eggs through your letterbox. Yes, tonight is Halloween. And yet again, newspapers are churning out the same old fodder that’s easy to write – how to make a pumpkin – how to make toffee apples – how to light a bonfire. Boring. So it’s our turn, as usual, to do something different. Our question is this: Do the Japanese celebrate Halloween?

The easy answer is ‘no’. It’s also the obvious answer. You then do a bit of digging (and believe me, nothing intrigues us more than digging into the Japanese culture) and you realise that a more accurate answer is actually ‘well, sort of’. The Japanese call it Obon, pronounced ‘Oh-bone’.

Obon is a Japanese Buddhist tradition of honouring the spirits of ancestors. The festival lasts for 3 days and a bonfire is lit, not to burn Guy Fawkes, but to let your ancestors know where you are. Must be quite confusing for them to find your particular bonfire, but no more difficult than Father Christmas finding your specific chimney I guess.

Candles are lit and then set afloat down the local river, a spectacle known as Toro Nagashi, and if you have a graveyard then the paths are swept, presumably in order to ensure easy access for any spirits that have decided to return to their place of birth and make for the exit by following the signed paths. Very practical we may add, although not altogether-becoming of the normal antics of a ‘spirit’. Obon is the only time that spirits are believed to return to their birthplace. For me, that would be Pilgrim Hospital, Boston – a place that I certainly don’t wish to return to every single year. I digress (as usual). The ceremony usually culminates in a bonfire and fireworks display. This occurs on the 15th of the month, and is a ‘send-off’ fire, intended to banish the spirits back off to their graves, ready to spend yet another year 6-feet under.

Just like all-things-spiritual, the date on which Obon lands depends on the sun and the moon. ‘Shichigatsu Bon’ is based on the solar calendar and takes place around the 15th July. ‘Hachigatsu Bon’ is based on the lunar calendar and takes place around the 15th August.

Either we’ve taken ideas from the Japanese, they’ve nicked ideas from us, or it’s a total coincidence that both Halloween and Obon are almost identical. I’m guessing the former. Oh yes – the lovely people in our photo are performing the Bon Odori folk dance, a dance performed to welcome the spirits of the dead. This smiley lady appears to have enjoyed a spirit of a rather stronger nature.

Author: Ben Reynolds