Japanese culture will be celebrated and explored through food, music and dance at the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple's 62nd annual Obon Festival this weekend.
Obon commemorates ancestors and deceased loved ones, and takes place during July or August in towns and cities throughout Japan. Palo Alto's annual celebration, which started in 1948, will be held Saturday and Sunday; festivities begin at 5 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. Thousands of people are expected at the temple at 2751 Louis Road.
"It's gotten bigger, bigger and bigger," said temple member Sally Barlow-Perez, adding that the festival originally involved just members of the temple community.
Attendees can expect a variety of music and dance performances by groups from throughout the Bay Area, and a wide selection of Japanese cuisine. The event kicks off with the tolling of the temple's giant bell and a performance by the temple's taiko drum group.
The free event features carnival booths for children, vendors, speeches and martial arts performances. Visitors are invited to learn about Buddhism by touring and meeting with guides inside the temple's Hondo, or sanctuary.
The festival will end with Bon Odori, a participatory circular folk dance.
Traditionally, at the end of Obon, floating lanterns are released into rivers or other bodies of water to symbolically guide spirits back to their world. Palo Alto's celebration does not involve a lantern release; instead,hey are hung inside the sanctuary.
"We're more Americanized," Barlow-Perez said, adding that there are "not too many rivers nearby."
For more information about the festival, call the temple at 650-856-0123 between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on weekdays or visit www.pabt.org.
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