Halloween

The act of re-connecting with ones ancestors seems to cross several cultures. Halloween originated in Ireland and Scotland with roots in Celtic tradition and spread to Canada and the United States. Mexico celebrates the Day of the Dead and the Japanese have a Buddhist event in the summer called o-bon. Their event is a period of praying for the repose of the souls of one’s ancestors. During this festival ghost story-telling and kimo-dameshi (traditional bravery tests) where people walk through creepy places occur, and walks through haunted houses (obake yashiki) are popular.

Halloween has not been celebrated in Japan until very recently but it is becoming more popular especially in regards to costume play (cosplay) among youth. As the Japanese are amenable at taking things from outside cultures and filtering them through their culture the youth have really embraced it. However it is still not accepted by the population as a whole.

We saw a few items that reminded us it was Halloween time. A booth in the central train station was selling ‘pumpkin’ pies which were actually made with Kabocha squash. The dollar store had witches hats, plastic pumpkins for collecting treats and other tacky stuff and our grocery store carried little cakes with ghosts on them and had a small display of candy for treats. Lucas brought a book home from kindergarten about it that included how to make a ghost costume and to carve a pumpkin.

The kindergarten classes ended early all week due to parent-teacher interviews so on Wednesday Lucas’ class got together at the nearby campus grounds to have a mini party. I would have liked to have taken the opportunity to provide my comments on the commercialization of Halloween in our country to prevent it becoming soulless here but the politics between some of the mothers prevented my being in charge of the event. It was kept basic to achieve harmony which these people are known for.

All the mothers brought O-bento lunches and picnic blankets and we ate under the trees which had not yet turned. After lunch the kids put on witches hats of all colours, cute pink capes, ghost costumes and Eleanor wore her Venetian princess mask and Lucas put on his Pikachu hat. They all ran around while we got the treat bags organized. Then we pulled them together for photos and Eleanor gave them a lesson on how to say ‘trick or treat’ in English. Then I was in the honourable position of sitting on a bench with Eleanor and they had to say those words to us in order to get their little bag of sweet snacks.

Lucas and Eleanor were able to make those sweets last until the day of our Halloween celebration.

We started the day with a typhoon in the forecast so the daytime sky was dark and the wind was really blowing. We had chosen to have a party at our house because we have a lot of privacy in our property here. We have a lot of yard surrounded by a big hedge on a dead end street which provided the perfect spot for a bunch of children to play outside in the dark.  

According to its Celtic roots this night was a fire festival so we used a lot of orange and yellow material (which we borrowed) for our decorating. We stuffed orange gauze with paper to make Martha Stewart-like pumpkins and sat a bunch of them on green chiffon as a pumpkin patch. We strung white and orange ribbons in the trees everywhere for affect. We had collected glass jars over the two months which we turned into tea light lanterns which we set about on the path to our house. Because we did not have pumpkins to carve we cut faces into brown paper bags (held down with rocks) and used tea lights for illumination. We sat them on dirt in our garden in case they went up in flames. We bunched up yellow chiffon to make the spirits of our ancestors which hung from our carport. The way they moved in the wind was perfectly ghostlike.

The Celtic tradition calls this night Samhain and the belief is that on this night the veil between the worlds is thin so spirits can visit with us. It is a time to ask ancestors for guidance and to dress up to trick the walking spirits so they don’t know who is who.

The concept of ghosts and spirits seems to be universal and they are not always fearful. The famous Japanese Director Miyazaki made our favourite film ‘My Neighbour Totoro’. It is about friendly wood spirits that live in a giant Camphor tree who help two little girls that are dealing with a lot of emotions while their mother is ill. We have a Camphor tree in our backyard which the children believe holds a Totoro that keeps them safe here. Lucas brought a book home from school about how ghosts make nice music and can be your friends in the dark. It taught him that you can enjoy their company if you chose not to be afraid of them. It only made sense that we made spirits be our theme for the night.

Indoors we decorated the mantle with lots of candles and Eleanor and Lucas each had a wall that displayed all their art they made just for the occasion. The French doors were covered with orange crepe paper and were backlit with a sign above the door that read, ‘Madam Joejoe’s Fortune-telling parlour’.

Lucas and Eleanor and their friends from next door played for a while as dusk settled in and the bats began to appear. The weather had turned in our favour and it was warm (18 degrees) and calm. I lit all the lanterns and then we went inside to receive a Morse code from our friend Suki and her family who live ½ km across from us on the other side of the river. They sent us a ‘happy Halloween’, so we sent back, ‘to you too’. We knew they were on their way to our house.

There were nine children and the costumes included witches, devils, brave knights, a confused professor, an Indian brave, Pikachu from Pokemon and a cow.

Our feast consisted of pumpkin soup from a caldron, spaghetti and baguettes with a Caesar salad, toffee apples on branches and an apple tart with whip cream to top it off.

After dinner anyone who had a silver coin could go into the parlour to have their fortunes read. Madam Joejoe the gypsy sat in candlelight and called the spirits to help her read special acorns. Some of the kids, including Eleanor, loved it so much they went in twice for her advice.

In keeping with spirits and the dead the next activity took us on a walk up our dark, treed road to the base of the mountain to see an ancient tomb that is preserved there. It was from the Kofun era in the seventh century and would have been the burial mound of a local chief. The tomb was made of large rocks forming a deep rectangle. It was a bit spooky to see right into its depths with our flashlights so we didn’t linger.

There were no homes close by to do any ‘trick or treating’ so we came back to our property and the children were given the first clue to a treat hunt. In order for it to be fun and not frightening we had stuffed animals in trees and tucked into the roots of trees holding bowls of treats. The only thing they had to watch out for were the real spider webs holding rather large spiders that are everywhere. They worked together really well and eventually found lots of yummy treats which they went inside to eat. The big treat for Tim and I was that we had found such good friends to share our celebration on this festive night.

Riverside BBQ

It was the weekend before Halloween and it was so gorgeous out that we had an impromptu barbeque lunch in the mountain on the edge of the Nigawa River. Suki’s family organized it and brought all the food. She has three children, two of who are older than ten, and they brought friends.

The Nigawa river was cool and as deep as my knees. It flowed over sand and rocks some which were big enough to sit on. Eleanor climbed on one and basked in the sun pretending to be a mermaid.

The kids went off to find and collect little crabs in their container. Tim helped get the fire going in a pit made in a dried up stream bed and Suki and I set up necessary items on the plank bridge across the banks. It made a perfect serving table.

After wading upstream towards the waterfall while playing brave knights and princesses and getting good and wet, the children were hungry. Our neighbours arrived with their children and everyone was ready for lunch.

We had strips of steak marinated in Coke, molasses and sugar that we wrapped in Shiso leaf (like a giant mint but less sharp in flavour) to hold and eat. We also enjoyed chicken wings, mashed potato salad, pasta salad full of broccoli and a real pumpkin pie (purchased at Costco). Cold tea and beer quenched our thirst.

Then the kids went on an adventure down river and ended up playing capture the flag on the field down the way from the little rapids. They were having so much fun we could hear a lot of laughter above the murmurs of the river. It was so nice to have the older kids be in charge of the little ones so we adults could just relax and chat. It was really something to have such a comfortable outdoor lunch in the end of October. It felt like a cool summer day and we had smiles on our faces.

Festival of the Ages

On Friday we let the kids play hookie to see a parade called the ‘Jidai Matsuri’ which means festival of the ages. It ran along major streets and across an old wooden bridge in the center of downtown Kyoto. This grand parade commemorates the history of Kyoto as the capital city for over 1000 years prior to it being moved to Tokyo in 1868.

We arrived in Kyoto early so Tim took us to an amazing little restaurant near Kyoto University for lunch. It was an artsy place with earthy décor on heavy wooden tables. The wooden chairs had all sorts of great pillows on them and there were painted canvases on the walls. It had a French influence. We had the most delicious salad and their specialty, garlic chicken, was so good. The restaurant was full and Eleanor pointed out that the only females in there were she and I and the waitress. All the others were men and she wanted to know if women were allowed to be eating there. She is very observant and full of questions.

After lunch and a stroll through the campus, our taxi dropped us off near the Sanjo Bridge and we landed a spot curb-side. The parade arrived sooner than we thought so our wait wasn’t too long. It began with the costumes from the Meiji Era (1868-1912) when the emperor was restored to power. This period also saw Japan change from being a feudal society to having a capitalist economy and left the Japanese with a lingering Western influence. The term Meiji means ‘enlightened rule’. In the parade the important men wore golden colored robes with head wear that resembled a black oven mitt with a white wrap to keep it on. The leading Samurai warrior class had wrapped flowing pleated pants with a black wrap-around top showing some needle work and swords. Their hair was pulled back and in the traditional top-not of their status. The retainers wore armor (leather and stitching) and grass outerwear for camouflage we guessed, as well as black under blue wrap-around robes with padded pointed shoulders. Several women walked in golden kimono-like robe with a flowing red sash with really long hair pulled down into pony tails carrying round, woven basket-like things on their front side. The sound of flutes and drums filled the air.
Periodically and conveniently timed to break up the various eras, buses came zooming along the street and turned at the corner reminding us we were still in the modern era. I guess the police couldn’t close off the intersection for a full hour so they managed the traffic in between eras.

Next was the Edo Era (1603-1868) which was ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate who brought 250 years of stability to Japan. We saw members of the Samurai class in their fine garments riding decorated horses or being carried in palanquin.  Those who served them walked wearing plain black or neutral colours. The goods were carried in large trunks or carts that were pulled over land by servants or oxen.

The buses went by again and unfortunately it broke the flow too much for Eleanor and Lucas and they began to lose interest.  We captured Lucas for a few extra minutes by teasing him that his favourite character Anpanman just walked by.  He looked for him for a bit, but then he wanted to draw so we gave him some paper and he drew pictures of Anpanman as a Samurai with a great horned helmet.

Heian (which means ‘peace and tranquility’) Era was from 794 to 1185 when Kyoto became the capital (Heian-kyo). At this time the arts, culture and Zen flourished due to major Chinese influence. In the parade, the fabrics of the elite class were so rich and gorgeous with robes and kimonos that were layers of material and hats with emblems of gold. The black shoes resembled Dutch wooden clogs (even though the Dutch did not have influence until the 1600). The soldiers wore a type of helmet that George Lucas likely copied for Darth Vader in Star Wars. The sound of a horn was followed by a bass drum calling all of us to pay attention. Eleanor looked up and finally saw what she had been hoping for, a warrior princess. The lady would have been of royal caste but she was wearing armour and carrying a sword along with bow and arrows. She had on a golden tiara and rode a grey horse.  That sighting made Eleanor happy but again she commented that the parade was full of men and we only got to see a few girls and women in costume. She stood up and entertained us with a little dance and then proclaimed that when she grew up she was going to be a warrior princess.

 After the parade we sat down beside a waterfall of the Kamo river and the children had melonpan (a special bun) and ran around. Then we walked along a famous narrow street called Pontocho full of tastefully designed old-style restaurants. As if we hadn’t seen enough costumes we were treated to the view of a Maiko waiting outside one.  Maiko are young working women who are still training to become Geisha (professionally trained female artist). A Maiko in full costume is said to approximate the Japanese ideal of feminine beauty.  According to the book I am currently reading, ‘Geisha of Gion’, she has the classic look of a Heian princess, as though she might have stepped out of an eleventh-century scroll painting. Her face is a perfect oval, her skin white and flawless and her hair is as black as a raven’s wing. Her brows are half moons and her mouth a delicate rosebud. Her neck is long and sensuous and her figure is gently rounded.

Then another Maiko walked up the street to the same location and Eleanor and I both gasped at her beauty and her exquisite fall Kimono. What luck! Usually the only people to see Maiko are the ones who have paid to have her entertain them at a formal banquet. We were able to see two in a matter of minutes. We all hugged Tim thanking him for his suggestion to wander down this wonderful street on our way to the train station and Eleanor and I agreed that the Maiko sighting made up for the lack of women in the parade.