Unique scents, sights and sounds filled the grounds of the Buddhist Temple of Salinas on Sunday as about 1,000 people ate Asian cuisine, played games and watched a variety of traditional Japanese cultural performances.
As part of the congregation's annual Obon Festival ? the temple's largest fundraiser ? families gathered to celebrate a 500-year-old Japanese tradition of honoring the departed spirits of their ancestors. The Buddhist custom has turned into a family reunion during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves.
Kathy Dairokuno-Smith drove with her husband and two children from San Jose to visit the temple and Salinas ? her hometown.
"We come [to the festival] every year to see family and people we haven't seen in a while," said Dairokuno-Smith. The Obon Festival this year is the Temple's 85th celebration in Salinas.
On one side of the Temple, near an outdoor stage decorated with pink, green and blue hanging lanterns, people lined up at the game booths to toss a ball into a bowl, a bean bag into a hole or a ring onto a one-liter soda bottle to win tickets for prizes.
People who were hungry followed the aroma of beef shish kabobs, lumpia, sushi, teriyaki chicken and noodles outside and inside of the Temple's gymnasium. The smell of fresh flower arrangements filled the outdoors.
Meanwhile some paid for raffle tickets to win a variety of home electronics. Festival organizers said the money generated from the raffle and other sales will be used to pay for temple and gymnasium repairs.
"This event demonstrates the vibrant Asian community that lived on the other side of the tracks," said Larry Hirahara, a member of the congregation. Hirahara said a significant Asian community lived in the neighborhood in the 1920s where the temple was established in 1924.
One of the Japanese dances demonstrated Sunday included the Bon-Odori dance ? long a part of the Obon tradition.
"The dance shows our happiness to our ancestors, especially those who passed away in the last year," said Reverend Shousei Hanayama, of Watsonville. Hanayama has been the temple's reverend for two years.
"The dance is also a symbol of recovery from sadness and grief of losing a loved one," said Hanayama.
Back by the game booths hundreds of people gathered around the outdoor stage to watch the San Jose Taiko performance, a group of professional drummers and dancers who wore traditional Japanese outfits.
Brandi Irwin of Salinas held her 14-month-old baby, Jack, as she danced to the festive beats of drums, the sounds of a flute, cymbals and shakers.
"I've came to the festival every year since I was a little girl," Irwin said. "When I was little my favorite part of the festival was the flower arrangements."
Irwin said she has a kimono ready for Jack to wear once he starts walking. Irwin's husband, Darin Irwin, and her mother, Marilyn Morris, stood by her side.
"Earlier my son and other grandchildren, who wore kimonos, were at the festival," said Morris. "They had a great time too."
