What is Bon Odori festival?
SHAH ALAM - The Bon Odori festival is a Japanese Buddhist custom in which they honour the spirits of their ancestors.
It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years.
It simply means "Bon dance" which is performed during the season observed by the Japanese to honour the spirits of their ancestors, called Obon.
The traditional dance is considered as a folk entertainment.
Originally, the Nenbutsu folk dance is to welcome the spirits of the dead (ancestors) in which people return to the ancestral family places to visit and clean the graves.
The dances are different across the country in which each region has a local dance, as well as music.
The celebration would last for three days.
However, the festival's starting date varies in different regions in Japan.
In Malaysia, the festival is celebrated in Penang's Esplanade, the Shah Alam Stadium in Selangor and Universiti Malaysia Sabah in Kota Kinabalu.
The festival, which is a major attraction in Selangor, was created by the Japanese Expatriate and Immigrant's Society in Malaysia.
In comparison to Japan, the festival is celebrated on a much smaller scale in the three states and is associated with the Japanese culture rather than Buddhism.
The festival is held primarily to expose Malaysians to a part of the Japanese culture, and offer a variety of Japanese foods and drinks, as well as arts and dances, with a large number of Japanese companies in Malaysia participating to promote their products.
However, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Idris Ahmad advised Muslims not to participate in the festival, which will be held at the Shah Alam Sports Complex on July 16, as this festival was "influenced by elements of other religions".
He said this was confirmed through a research conducted by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).
The annual Japanese festival was being criticised by social media users especially among the Muslims in Malaysia as the event’s promotional poster depicted an anime of a kimono-clad woman wearing a hijab.
