I ran across some photographs that I took years ago at the Lantern Festival, which takes place at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, located in Delray Beach, Florida, each year. My sister Susan and I were visiting my mother Mary down in Stuart, Florida, where she lived for almost 30 years, and when I read about the festival taking place that weekend, I insisted that we check it out. The festival features Japanese folk-dancing, drumming, a street festival, an evocative lantern floating ceremony, and is described by the museum as Japan's "summer homage to ancestors who return for a brief visit to the living." A beautiful idea indeed. The photograph on the left features Susan, in the foreground, grooving to the beat of the Japanese drummers.
Those Japanese drummers performed most of day, and at sunset, the lantern floating ceremony, the finale of the festival, took place, which was very beautiful indeed. It was well worth attending, but the part I remember most is what happened afterwards, when trying to leave. There were so many cars that it took at least an hour to get out of the parking lot, and we didn't get back to Stuart until pretty late. Happily, the festival is still scheduled to take place again this October, but if you do attend, I suggest that when you leave, you do so by helicopter. Perhaps you can see if Donald Trump is attending and hitch a ride with him.
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