Bon Odori (19/7)

Posted on September 7, 2014

Obon (お盆) or just Bon (盆) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors’ graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.

The festival of Obon lasts for three days; however its starting date varies within different regions of Japan. When the lunar calendar was changed to the Gregorian calendar at the beginning of the Meiji era, the localities in Japan reacted differently and this resulted in three different times of Obon. “Shichigatsu Bon” (Bon in July) is based on the solar calendar and is celebrated around 15 July in eastern Japan (Kantō region such as Tokyo, Yokohama and the Tohoku region), coinciding with Chūgen. “Hachigatsu Bon” (Bon in August) is based on the lunar calendar, is celebrated around the 15th of August and is the most commonly celebrated time. “Kyu Bon” (Old Bon) is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and so differs each year. “Kyu Bon” is celebrated in areas like the northern part of the Kantō region, Chūgoku region, Shikoku, and the Okinawa Prefecture. These three days are not listed as public holidays but it is customary that people are given leave.

Bon Odori is a Japanese cultural festival which involves traditional and merry-making dance and lively drum performance to welcome the home coming of ancestral spirits. It is traditional belief by the Japanese that the spirits of the deceased ancestors would return once a year to visit their families. And Bon Odori is a traditional Japanese Dance.

penang festival - bon odori celebration in penang

Bon Odori Festival is jointly organised by the both the local Japanese community and Penang Tourism department and the festive celebration is held every year at the Esplanade field, located at Jalan Padang Kota Lama, Georgetown. The festival initially started on a minor scale in 1987 before expanding into a large scale annual event in 1997, after close collaboration with the Consulate-General of Japan.

The atmosphere at the Esplanade will be fun-filled with stalls selling various types of local and Japanese food, handicrafts and souvenirs, games, firework displays. Traditional Japanese and local cultural danceperformances and music creates a colourful carnival-like and merry atmosphere of a mini ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ at the Esplanade. The ladies will be dressed in casually in stylish summer kimono (Yukata costume) and wearing Japanese wooden clogs (known as geta), while the men are clothed in their short robes complete with shorts or pants and other traditional dressing attires of Japan during Bon Odori festive nite.