Obon Eisa Dancers

Just before going to bed tonight, I heard the beating of drums and singing outside my window... not the normal occurrence, hehe. I hadn't heard anything earlier while downstairs because the TV was up pretty loud with Olympic coverage on. Well, there is an annual event in Okinawa called Obon and it is being celebrated this week. If I wouldn't have noticed it so late, we may have walked down the street to check it out, but Americans have a curfew off-base after midnight and I wasn't really in the mood to stir up trouble with the local police (worst case scenario) or get those "you're not welcome here" looks from our Okinawan neighbors.



Obon was first celebrated during the Middle Ages and on Okinawa, it is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. Ever since those times, Okinawans have followed tradition and prayed, eaten, sung and danced with the spirits of their ancestors during this annual event. The spirits are alerted of the arrival of Obon by the cleaning of tombs several days before the event begins. Family members get together at their family tomb to clean it which lets the ancestors know they will soon be called forth to rejoin their family for a short visit. Eisa dancing is performed to please and console the ancestors and dispel any bad spirits.

Driving around the island, you will see these Okinawa family tombs alongside the road everywhere. Some date back hundreds of years and are shaped like the backs of turtles, which resemble a mother's womb, and to them it symbolizes from where everyone is born and from there everyone returns (something like that). Inside are the bones of generations of their ancestors. Families gather there during this time and also during "shimi" in April and offer food and drinks to their ancestors while entertaining themselves and honoring their lost loved ones. Very different from our American culture, but it is an interesting tradition. You can't see the Eisa dancers in the video I took, but you can hear them very well!



The 2 photos were taken by another American resident who saw these dancers by his home a few nights ago.