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Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Chapter 4: Rituals
I really enjoyed this chapter about mourning and funeral rituals. In my family, we don't have any special rituals which keep us connected to our relatives who have died. We often share stories and memories about my grandparents, but there isn't a regularity to it. The graves where they are buried aren't in a town nearby me, and I don't make special trips to visit the cemetery. Although I often think about my grandmother, I don't do anything that makes me feel connected to her everyday. It would be nice if I did have an altar or something similar to help me remember her and to teach my niece and nephew about her.
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Loved Mori's description of helping her Grandmother make the offerings to the family ancestors - hotoke-sama. I didn't grow up with any daily ritual to connect me with relatives who had passed away. As a child I used to dig out the family photo albums & make my mother go through them with me. It was one of the few times I'd get to hear the family stories and 'meet' the relatives who had passed away when I was very young, or before my time.
ReplyDeleteLooking at family photos and retelling those stories is a great ritual!
ReplyDeleteI also think that it is good to have a ritual to remember our ancestors. In Japan, the ritual is held from the 13th to 16th in August. We believe that the spirits of ancestors come back from the afterworld in this period. Although the way of the ritual is a little different in sects of Buddhism and temples, the common way is as follows. At first, we make the welcome bonfire outside the house and put the paper lantern inside the house to welcome the spirits of ancestors. And we put vegetables and fruits for them in front of the altar. At night we do the Bon Festival dance around the drum to calm the spirits of ancestors. On the 15th or 16th, we make the farewell bonfire or float lanterns on the water (river or ocean) to see off them.
ReplyDeleteRecently the number of family who has the altar in the house gets fewer and fewer. But I think that the ritual in August would never fade out.
Thanks for sharing this Miwa - it sounds like a beautiful ceremony. I like the idea of sharing our personal losses together, perhaps it can make death and mourning a less lonely experience.
ReplyDeleteChinese believe that all the ghosts come out in the month of July in Lunar calendar and there are various ceremonies on the first and last day of July. It is believed that the gate of hell opens and let out all the ghosts for the whole month. Chinese also have something like hotoke-sama. Traditionally, each family keeps a wood plaque with the family's last name on it and visits family grave every year. Some people even believe that the feng-shui of the grave can infulence the family prosperity.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these traditions Sandra - are you able to celebrate them here in the US?
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