Obon — the Ancestors Return

(draft — to be rewritten from the ledger) Obon is the season when the ancestral spirits are said to come home once a year. Welcomed with fires, entertained with Bon dances, sent back with bonfires and lantern boats. The Gozan fires and the floating lanterns both stand on this form of seeing the returning dead off again. Here the dance current and the fire festivals join into one line.