お盆をどのように過しますか？

I took a little break from the weekly question last week because so many students took an O-Bon holiday. But now I am back to work and ready for the dog days of summer.

So let’s start our conversations this week with a few simple questions about O-Bon.

What did you do for the O-Bon holiday?
Do you do the same thing every year?
Do you or does your family follow some traditions for O-Bon?
Do you or does your family eat, drink or do anything special for O-Bon?

Last Saturday, my wife and I went to her hometown and paid our respects to her ancestors. We went to different cemeteries and prayed at the graves of her mother’s side of the family as well as her father’s. In addition to praying at the ancestor’s graves, we also visited the graves of various friends and acquaintances that played important parts in the lives of my wife’s family.

For my wife’s family, like most Japanese families, it is an annual custom to visit the cemetery and pray to and for our ancestors. And in my wife’s family, it is also part of their custom to visit other relatives’ houses in order to pray at their family altars, especially if someone in that family has died in the last year.

After we return from the cemetery, it is customary to eat my mother-in-law’s home-made breakfast, talk and share some laughs. This year, my mother-in-law made black rockfish, rice, pickles, grilled abalone, salad and fresh sliced peaches.

How about you? I will look forward to hearing about your O-bon holiday when we speak next.


This week’s vocabularies:

take a break
休みを取る

O-bon
お盆

dog days of summer
夏中で一番暑い時期

tradition
伝統、慣習

pay respects
敬意を払う

ancestors
先祖

cemetery
墓地

pray
祈る

mother’s side of the family
母方の家族

father’s side of the family
父方の家族

grave
お墓

acquaintances
知り合い

custom
習慣

family altar
仏壇

black rockfish
めばる（魚）

pickles
漬け物

abalone
あわび