Ask any of your Japanese friends what they think the most important holidays in their country are, and they will most likely reply with o-Shōgatsu (お正月, New Year’s) and o-Bon (お盆, the Buddhist festival of the dead). Both are fairly big events for the family, and often the only time of the year that workers are able to take long holidays and return to their hometowns. Unlike Shōgatsu, however, the Bon is not a public holiday. So why is that?
The reason lies in Japan’s adoption of the Gregorian, or western, calendar in the 19th Century.
In the fifth year of Meiji (1872), the twelfth month of the year was shortened to a mere two days in order for the first day of the first month of the next year (Meiji 6) to align with January 1st, 1873 anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi. As a result, the traditional New Year, known today as Kyū Shōgatsu (旧正月 or the Chinese New Year) now falls as early as January 21st and as late as February 19th.
It for this reason, too, that the traditional names of months, which can still be found on some calendars today, are sometimes off by as many as six weeks. Case in point: an ancient name for the fifth month of the Japanese year is Samidaré (五月雨, also read Satsuki amé), which means “fifth month rain.” The modern month of May, however, tends to be one of the sunnier times of the year. Similarly, the old name for sixth month, Minazuki (水無月, lit. “the month of no water”), only makes sense when you understand that it used to correspond to the drier months of late July and August rather than the June of today which is the start of the rainy season.[1]
But I digress. Before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, the Bon was held in the seventh month of the year, with the fifteenth always falling on the full moon. Today, there are still areas, such Kanazawa, Hakodate, and Tama, which observe what is now called Shichigatsu Bon (七月盆) or Shinbon (新盆), and one reason why so many “summer festivals” are held in July is because of this connection with the “new Bon”. With the change in calendars, the timing of the traditional Bon corresponded more closely to the new month of August and celebrating Bon then—also known as Hachigatsu Bon(八月盆), Tsuki-okuré Bon (月遅れ盆)—became common throughout Japan.[2]
Meanwhile, some areas of Japan, such as Okinawa and Amami Ōshima, celebrate what could be considered a more orthodox Bon that is based on the old lunisolar calendar. Like the Chinese New Year, the timing of Kyūbon can vary significantly from year to year. In 2019, Kyūbon and o-Bon happened to fall on the same day. This year, however, Kyūbonstarts on August 31st and finishes on September 2nd.
In Okinawa, the three days of o-Bon are called Unkē (うんけー), Nakabi (中日) or Naka nu hi (中ぬ日) and Ūkui (うーくい).
うんけー
On Unkē (うんけー, お迎え or 精霊迎え), the first day of Kyūbon, the spirits of the uyafāfuji (ウヤファーフジ, ancestors) come back to their home where family members have gathered in front of the altar or tōtōmē (トートーメー). They make an offering of fruits and sweets, and pray. [3]
中ぬ日
On the second day of Kyūbon, or Naka nu hi (中ぬ日), family members make the rounds to greet their relatives.
うーくい
Ūkui (うーくい), or the third day of Kyūbon, is the most important. Ūkui means “seeing off the spirit of the dead” (精霊送り). On this day, the whole family gets together to see the spirits of their ancestors off. One of the more interesting customs of this day is this burning of uchikabi (うちかび), which represents money that the ancestors take with them to gusõ (グソー, あの世), or the next world, so that they will not have to suffer financial hardship there. It is said that 500 yen in this world is equivalent to 200 million yen there.
I may add more to this post in the coming weeks as I have found quite a bit of information on it. So, stay tuned!
[1] Some may note that in the無 in 水無月 should not be read for meaning (i.e. “without”), but for sound (な or の), and actually means “month of water”, a reference to the high demand of water for rice paddies. I have since read in a Japanese book about the month that 水無月 is a reference to riverbeds running dry due to the heat. Another ancient name for June is 水月, which can be read Minazuki or Suigetsu and is connected to the rice paddies being full of water at this time of year. The following states that there are two conflicting theories behind the name:
水無月は「みなづき」と読みます。ほかの和風月名同様、その意味・由来・語源は諸説あるのですが、まったく逆の解釈が混在しているのは面白いところで
ひとつは、水無月の「無（な）」が「の」にあたる連体助詞だという説。水が「無い」わけではなく「水の月」であることを意味する、という説です。梅雨明けにあたる陰暦6月が、田に水を引く時期であったことから「水無月（みなづき）」と呼ばれた、という解釈です。
これに対して、水が無いから「水無月」だとする説もあります。田に水を引くため、それ以外の水が無いという説や、暑さで水が干上がってしまうから水が無い「水無月」だという説などです。
So, I guess it can be interpreted both ways.
[2] Hachigatsu Bon (八月盆) is sometimes also called Kyūbon (旧盆), but for the most part, I believe that most people just call it o-Bon.
[3] I suspect that the “uya” inウヤファーフジ (uyafāfaji, ancestors) is “oya” (親) in standard Japanese. As I have written elsewhere, uya in Okinawan refers not only to one’s parents, but to all one’s ancestors. ファーフジ (祖父母) means “one’s grandparents”. Note that most Okinawans today do not use this term and many may not have even heard of it. An equally rare word is uyakkwa (ウヤックヮ) which means oyako (親子, parents and children). Note the “uya” in uyakkwa. Hereックヮ means “child” or ko (子). Similarly, ikiga (いきが, 男, man) + ん (の) + kkwa (クヮ, 子, child) makes ikigankwa, meaning otokonoko (男の子, “boy”) or musuko (息子, “son”).