It’s now October, but I went back through my photos and realized something awful! I never posted pictures of my favourite festival of all: the one that was in Otsuki the night after I got back from Shikoku! It had looked bleak because of persistent thunderstorms and rain but the festival snuck its way into the part of the evening when the clouds parted and lightening only lit up the skies afar. It was such a wonderful time, mostly because my students were the main event as they ran some sort of relay involving fire down main street! They were so excited to see me and I them!
The festival ground were actually held at one of my schools so I got to hang out with all my students and meet some of their parents and friends while I watch Bon dancing and actually felt like part of the community. Then I discovered this really cool stall! A young man was seated amongst his work of chalk pastel artwork and calligraphy and for a price, of your choosing, he would sit you down looking into your soul and loose himself in his music as he wrote whatever came to mind. I don’t read Japanese so I was at a loss what he wrote but on Tony’s trying translation we gathered it was all nice stuff! And the piece held such strong positive energy when it was finished. He had such a strong aura of gentleness and generosity. While we waited in line my students kept running up to me with random gifts like a little slap bracelet with cats and a reflective silver dog in a hoodie vest. They were so cute it brought tears to my eyes!
The evening finished with more Bon dancing around a centre stage of lanterns under a midnight blue sky and then fireworks! It was so cool to be more than a tourist at an event like this!
No comments:
Post a Comment