What do you picture when I say Hungry Ghosts Festival?
Obon Hungry Ghosts Festival may not be what you're expecting - let's celebrate it!
Here’s what I think of now that I know more about Obon Festival…
The music
The festival
One of Buddha’s disciples believed his mother was in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts - a space reserved for sinners, who were to suffer an eternal hunger, but have necks too thin to eat!
Buddha told the disciple to leave small offerings, and he did so successfully and then joyfully danced - the first Obon dance.
Nowadays, Hungry Ghost festivals are still celebrated all across Asia in different religions and cultures.
Focusing on the Japanese Obon Festival, there are a few customs: lighting fire lanterns to guide spirits, visiting graves, offering small amounts of food, doing the joyful Obon dance (as seen in Karate Kid 2) and a bittersweet farewell with floating lanterns. There is one thing I do suggest you do though…
Playing with eggplants and cucumbers!
Vegetables arranged to represent a Cow and a Horse (you can guess which is which!). They use cocktail sticks and chopsticks to prop them up. Some designs are incredibly artistic too! Go make your cows and horses!
The food
Like many other festivals, food is an important part of Obon. Not only are small but beautiful offerings set out to honour the spirits, but street food also plays a big part.
Festival goers can enjoy typical Japanese treats such as okonomiyaki (savoury pancake), takoyaki (fried octopus balls), yakitori (marinated chicken skewers), and many more, including sweet dishes such as shaved ice, dango dumplings and candy floss.
Yakitori could not be simpler to recreate at home. It involves grilling skewers of boneless chicken thighs and spring onion for 10 minutes and slathering over Yakitori sauce 3-4 minutes at the end of cooking.
The yakitori sauce is actually super simple to make.
Boil and thicken a mix of 2 parts soy sauce, 2 parts mirin, 1 part sake and 1 part water with a generous sprinkling of brown sugar for that awesome caramelisation. That’s it! If you make too much, it even keeps in the fridge for a couple of months.
The movie
What happens when Disney and Studio Ghibli join forces? Well, an incredibly beautiful, moving, and equally confusing movie that is just joyous all the way through.
What could be more apt…
Plus it’s on Netflix right now - start making your street food, get comfy, and watch away!
I hope you enjoyed this month’s festival - please do subscribe, and check out my favourite post so far:
