Floating Lanterns
September 24, 2004
At sunset, about 120 lanterns floated down the waters of the Hudson River to the pounding of a taiko drum on this year’s anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy. Each lantern glowed in the dark from candles within that illuminated written messages of peace and the names of the dead.
The ceremony was adapted from an ancient Japanese Buddhist ritual that is usually performed to mark the end of Obon, the week-long festival in July when it is believed that the spirits of the dead return to earth. In Japan, the names of those who have died in the past year are written on individual lanterns that are left to drift on the water in a symbolic act to appease their spirits and send them on the rest of their journey. In recent years, the ritual in New York has taken on a new meaning as a way to commemorate Sept. 11 and those killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“It’s a way for us to show that we wish the world would become a better place and we have to learn from tragedy,” said Noriko Hino, president of New York de Volunteer, which helped organize the event.
The New York Buddhist Church co-sponsored the event. The drumming group Soh Daiko and Merle Okada played the taikos, and NY Kayak Company retrieved the lanterns after the ceremony.
“Tonight we remember all those who have gone before us,” Ruth Funai, from the New York Buddhist Church, told a crowd of about 1,000 people. “As we float these lanterns on the river, we send our thoughts and hopes for a peaceful world.”
A Haitian voodoo priestess then gave a blessing and performed a ritual in which she poured water from a small wooden bowl onto the pier. Later, a group of Shinto priests from Japan chanted a prayer.
“I have some friends who died on September 11, and I happened to be in New York on that day,” said Hiroki Yano, who traveled from Kyoto to attend the ceremony with the delegation of Shinto priests. “This is a wonderful chance for people to come together and pray together.”
Buddhist Rev. T.K. Nakagaki stood beside a small altar decorated with a single lighted candle, a white lily and a painting of the Buddha, and chanted sutras as the sun set on the river. Later he led a group of monks — two Americans, one Sri Lankan and a Korean — down to a mooring beside the pier where they took turns chanting as the lanterns were carried down and placed upon the water.
Linked by a string in groups of 10, the lanterns, each lighted by a tea candle, were attached to kayaks that pulled them a few hundred feet down the river before they were released on the waves. In the background, another Sept. 11 memorial, the Towers of Light, two giant columns of electric spotlights, stretched into the sky across from Ground Zero.
“In Japan, the ceremony is done not just for Obon but also in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, the day the atomic bomb fell on the original Ground Zero,” Nakagaki said.
The first ceremony, with 50 lanterns, was held in July 2002 at Pier 26, closer to the former World Trade Center, after a peace walk with 200 people from the site. Last year it was repeated during Obon. But this year, organizers decided it would be more meaningful to do it on the actual day of Sept. 11. The location was also changed to Pier 40, a public pier.
Nakagaki said he decided to invite the Haitian priestess and the monks from other branches of Buddhism to make the event inclusive. “All religions have the same message of peace,” he said. “Even though this is a Japanese Buddhist ritual, the event has a universal value.”
“Living in a foreign country makes you think back to your own culture. So, we can provide a Japanese way to think about 9/11 and think about our own culture too,” said Hino, who has lived in New York City for the past 12 years.
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