The lines at the food booth were especially long on Friday night. “Considering they opened the gates at 6 p.m., the lines were really long,” said Ed Nakaya, helping at the refreshments booth during the bon dance hosted by the
The lines at the food booth were especially long on Friday night.
“Considering they opened the gates at 6 p.m., the lines were really long,” said Ed Nakaya, helping at the refreshments booth during the bon dance hosted by the Kauai Soto Zen Temple in Hanapepe. “But all the food lines are long.”
Rev. Kosen Ishikawa of the Koloa Jodo Mission, hosting this weekend’s bon dances, said Gerald Hirata, president of the Kauai Soto Zen Temple, worked really hard to draw the crowd of several hundred people to the temple.
“This has got to be one of the biggest bon festivals on the island,” Ishikawa said.
Hirata said the summer bon season has been a fixed part of the island calendar for more than five generations.
During bon, it is said the spirits of the deceased return home to visit families and offerings of food are placed on family altars and gravesites, lanterns, or chochin, light the way so the spirits are able to find their way home, and during the bon dance, the spirits also join in.
