Friday, August 22, 2008

Bon Odori

Hi all, yup, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated my blog. For that I would like to apologize (that is if anyone ever reads my blog ~_~). Life have been busy but mostly all are not on important stuff anyways :P

Ironically, the reason I’m writing now is because I’m down with pneumonia at home bored to death with few things to do. Anyhow to get back on track, recently once again I went to an annually celebrated event in Penang called Bon Odori This event is special as you’ll only find it celebrated in Penang with this large scale. They even went as far as saying it’s celebrated greater then in Japan itself (but I don’t buy that :P, not until I went to Japan and see it myself .. if I ever get that chance)

For those who have no idea what is Bon Odori is all about, in very very simple terms, it’s a celebration to remember and appreciate our ancestors and their sacrifice. Its usually celebrated with traditional dances such as the Soran Bushi (some Japanese folk dance on fishing :P) and in each places, the dances might differ. For example in Penang, they have the Raya Sayang dance and in some Japan prefecture they have their own localized folk dance such as “Tokyo Ondo” in Tokyo and in Shiga the “Goshu Ondo”.

Well, in Penang, mostly every year the Bon Odori is celebrated with the same settings and it’s usually held at Esplanade. What you can expect to find there is usually a large stage at the centre of a field where they performed all the Bon Dances and food stalls surrounding it selling all types of local and localized japan food :P. The dances are usually divided into 2 categories, where they have the usual dances which are repeated a few rounds throughout the evening and in between some special traditional dance and drum performance. This celebration usually starts at 5pm and go on until 11pm at night. One thing you have to take care when you visit this event is to that the traffic are usually murderous (I mean sesak teruk la :P), so it’s always a wise idea to park you car a bit further and walk to the field where the celebration is held.

Anyhow, the whole reason I went to the Bon Odori and for most people also is because at the climax of the event, there’s usually a fireworks performance :). This fireworks performance is usually done around 10pm – 10.30pm and usually marks the end of the Bon Odori celebration. The fireworks itself last around 3-5 minutes worth and is definitely worth the wait :P I will paste some pictures below for your enjoyment. ^_^









No comments: