Japan's Fireworks Were Originally for the Dead #Fireworks #Japan #Culture #Obon #japanlife
Fireworks festivals in Japan were originally part of Obon — the festival of the dead.
In the Edo period, epidemics spread in summer.
Fireworks were set off to comfort the deceased and drive away disease.
One of the origins is the 1733 water deity festival held along the Sumida River.
The sound of explosions was believed to expel evil.
The light was an offering to illuminate the darkness for the dead.
Obon is the time when ancestral spirits return.
Fireworks were also a ritual to welcome and send those spirits off.
Today's fireworks festivals carry no religious consciousness.
But when fireworks rise into the summer night, Japanese people grow briefly quiet.
In that quiet, the memory of mourning remains.
In the Edo period, epidemics spread in summer.
Fireworks were set off to comfort the deceased and drive away disease.
One of the origins is the 1733 water deity festival held along the Sumida River.
The sound of explosions was believed to expel evil.
The light was an offering to illuminate the darkness for the dead.
Obon is the time when ancestral spirits return.
Fireworks were also a ritual to welcome and send those spirits off.
Today's fireworks festivals carry no religious consciousness.
But when fireworks rise into the summer night, Japanese people grow briefly quiet.
In that quiet, the memory of mourning remains.
