The Buddhist memorial service for my late father-in-law was held in my wife's original house which is in the north of Okayama prefecture. I got up at about 4:30 and started at five o'clock. It was four hours' drive to the house.
http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2007/01/my-father-gone.html
His picture and offerings were put on the altar and the Buddhist monk recited a sutra. This ceremony was without doubt for my late father, but I thought that this ceremony was for us. After the parents pass away, their children will drift apart from each other. I felt that this ceremony might be wise of us to unify the relatives. My wife and I enjoyed talking and having lunch with people who got together. Some of them took more than a half day to attend the ceremony. It will be two years later for us to see them again when the next ceremony will be performed.
We left Okayama about three o'clock P.M. and hoped to arrive at our house before 7:00, but we were caught by a heavy traffic jam caused by the snowfall. Our hometown has a relatively warm climate and most drivers aren't accustomed to snow. Though our car had winter tires and was ready to run on the snow, we ended up getting to our house at about 10:00. So exhausted!
(Vocabulary)
Buddhist memorial service 法事
recite (人前で) …を暗唱する, 朗唱する
sutra 《ヒンドゥー教・仏教》経典
drift apart (人が) 疎遠になっていく, 離れ離れになっていく
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