Lantern Festival at Forest Hills Cemetery

At Forest Hills Cemetery, crowds rushed past gravestone markers, small groves named Buckthorn and Larkspur Path amidst the sounds of thudding drumbeats by Buddhist drums.

On July 17th, it was the 10th annual Lantern Festival, held each year at the cemetery to honor the dead by Buddhist tradition. A ceremony with chorus members singing in Japanese, Kilts men playing bagpipes, and hundreds of lit paper lanterns dotting the waters of Lake Hibiscus.

The ceremony is based on Buddhist tradition which is steeped in the symbolic nature of death and the Japanese Bon Festival, which believes that a window opens to the world of the ancestors on the lake allowing messages to be sent to the other side.

Residents from all over Massachusetts gathered in this Jamaica Plain cemetery, many mourning those who had recently died.

Wandering over toward the taiko drumming, a traditional Japanese art with ceremonial grunts, thuds and clicks came together for a primal melody, families assembled around the lake, some taking pictures of the festivities while others concentrating on decorating translucent paper with their friends. The music ceased and the growing audience applauded.

Over by the other side of the lake, a mob of people waited patiently despite the heavy humidity to get Chinese symbols painted on their lantern. Most chose the symbol for "Love".

As the sun sank into complete darkness, a thousand points of light floated on the lake symbolizing the soul's journey after death.