SD Obon

On Saturday, a handful of us decided to check out the Obon Festival in SD. I've never been to one before, and I figured it'd be exciting. I imagined it would've been like those crazy festivals you see in anime, with lots of people, lights, vendors, and food. Obon was nothing like that hahaha. It's supposed to be a Buddhist tradition to honor the deceased.

It was a lot smaller than I imagined (it was the size of a small parking lot). But a good amount of people were there. I guess that's what you get for not having a big Japanese community in SD. But after getting familiar with the quirks of Obon, it was really enjoyable.

We participated in the folk dances. haha, none of us really knew what we were doing, but you just stand in the outer circles and follow the teachers in the inner circle and copy what they're doing. Each dance revolves around a series of moves that are repeated throughout the song. The moves are really simple once you get it down, but I kept getting confused lmao I guess it would've made more sense if we all understood the songs cuz I think the dances reflect the lyrics.

Here's a massive image dump!