Japanese Floating Lntern Paper Festival or also known as Tōrō nagashi (灯籠流し) is a Japanese ceremony in which participants float paper lanterns down a river. This is primarily done on the last evening of the Buddhist festival - Bon Festival, festival based on the belief that this guides the spirits of the departed back to the other world.
The ceremony may be done on some other days of the year for other reasons such as to commemorate those lost in the bombing of Hiroshima and those who died on Japan Airlines Flight 123; or in other areas of the world, such as Hawaii, to commemorate the end of World War II. The Bon Festival takes place on the thirteenth to sixteenth of August or July, depending on the calendar you go by. The white lanterns are for those who have died in the past year. Traditional Japanese beliefs state that humans come from water, so the lanterns represent their bodies returning to water.
Small paper lanterns containing light candles on a wooden or bamboo base are set adrift on calm water. Usually a message is written on the outside of the paper lantern. The purpose of this event is to send off ancestor’s spirits.
Paper lanterns are used often in the folk practices and holidays of the orient, especially in Japan. They can very in form from a simple square or bell shape to elaborate figural shapes representing animals, people or mythological creatures.
The lantern festival the other evening was a three hour affair, with performances of Japanese drummers, Chinese dance, a gospel group, and a lone Scottish bagpiper who played while the lanterns were placed in the pond at sunset.
