12th Annual Lantern Festival: Forest Hills

We have Not Yet Posted This Year's Information for This Event Yet

If new information for this event is already available for this year, please let us know.

Official Website: 12th Annual Lantern Festival: Forest Hills
Location: Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills A, Boston, MA, 02130 directions
Phone:617.524.0128
Date: Thursday, July 15, 2010
Hours: Hours Vary see below
Ages: Toddlers, Kids, Teens, Adults
In/Outdoor: Outdoor
Cost: Free see below

Join us – and thousands of Bostonians – for a moving memorial ceremony inspired by Buddhist rituals. Inscribe a lantern with a personal message to friends or family and float it across Lake Hibiscus at sunset.

In this breathtaking ceremony of remembrance, visitors to this lush, Victorian landscape make paper lanterns and set them afloat on the peaceful waters of a small lake. This ritual is based on the traditional Japanese Bon Festival, a time when a door opens to the world of the ancestors, allowing us to send messages to the other side.

Bring your own picnic and blanket and enjoy a multi-cultural program of music and dance which starts at 6 pm. Featuring Grand Master Tsuji's Samurai Taiko drummers, gospel music by Ron Murphy and friends, and traditional Japanese Bon dances by the students from Showa Institute as well as performances of Chinese and Balinese dance.

You can have a calligrapher inscribe your lantern with Japanese characters meaning love or hope. Then add your own drawings and messages for friends and family who have passed away. At sunset, everyone gathers at the Lake and a thousand candle-lit lanterns are set afloat. Drifting and flickering with the wind, the lanterns symbolize the soul’s mysterious journey when life ends.

Please Note
There is no food or water for sale at the festival, so bring whatever you want. Mosquito repellent recommended. There is no lighting after dark; bring a flashlight to assist your departure.

Hours

Top

6:00pm - 9:00pm
Rain Date 7/22

Cost

Top

Admission is free, with a $10 donation per lantern. Parking is $10 (or take the T)

Location

Top

Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills A, Boston, MA, 02130 map

Avoid the parking cost and Take the T! Orange Line to Forest Hills and use the shortcut, one block up Tower Street to a pedestrian gate into the Cemetery. Use the detailed directions at www.foresthillstrust.org.