Obon at Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church, 8/8/15 by Ronald Horii
Summer is the time for obon festivals. They are Buddhist celebrations with dancing to honor deceased loved ones. There are obon celebrations at Buddhist churches and Japanese communities all around the country. In the Bay Area, San Jose Buddhist Church has the biggest event and one of the earliest, with nearly 1000 dancers. In-between are Mountain View's and Palo Alto's, which are a little smaller. One of the last ones in the Bay Area is at South Alameda County Buddhist Church in Union City: http://sacbc.org/wp/
We went to it for the first time. It was a lot less crowded than the other obons we went to and much easier to find parking. It was only 1 day, and there were no carnival booths. Still, it had Japanese food, and the music and dancing were just as good as at other obons. Here are pictures from it.
Summer is the time for obon festivals. They are Buddhist celebrations with dancing to honor deceased loved ones. There are obon celebrations at Buddhist churches and Japanese communities all around the country. In the Bay Area, San Jose Buddhist Church has the biggest event and one of the earliest, with nearly 1000 dancers. In-between are Mountain View's and Palo Alto's, which are a little smaller. One of the last ones in the Bay Area is at South Alameda County Buddhist Church in Union City: http://sacbc.org/wp/
We went to it for the first time. It was a lot less crowded than the other obons we went to and much easier to find parking. It was only 1 day, and there were no carnival booths. Still, it had Japanese food, and the music and dancing were just as good as at other obons. Here are pictures from it.
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