Congratulations Kim & Kame

Well ot those readers of the blog I am sure you will recall the blog regarding the Braai/BBQ we had at our house about a month with some ex-pat saffers. As it turns out Kim and Kame (from Japan) have since gotten engaged officially-congratulations all round for the both of you and Sar's and I both hope your life together is full of happiness-we also look forward to many more BBQ's in Oz in the future.

At the end of the day Kame gave to Sarah and I a gift for "Obon", a Japanese festival similar to Halloween, anyway I was dead keen to put a picture of this on the blog so asked Kim to be a guest contributor to the blog and write a description of the gifts meaning as there was no way I would get it spot on (I had had a few beers at this stage) and I would put a photo of it on the blog, which you see at the top of this page to complete the article.

About the Japanese Obon festival. ... The Obon week in mid August is one of Japan's three major holiday seasons

Obon is a period similar to Halloween, but with positive overtones. During Obon, lanterns are lit outside of homes in order to guide the spirits of ones dead ancestors to the family. Toy horses are made out of aubergines and cucumbers and left outside the front door. The idea is that the ancestors ride to the house on the vegetable animal. On the first day of Obon, the animals face the door, to signify arriving, whilst at the end, they face away, signifying the ancestors returning to from wherever they came.

Thanks for that Kim and Kame, to let you know the Aubergine and cucumber horse is still outside the door and facing the road now.