今年も千の風にやってくる
今年も猛暑の最中、とうとうお盆の季節がやってきましたね。今年も我が家の大小のお地蔵様の前に小さなお盆を置きました。そして、そこにナスやきゅうりでお馬を作り置きます。それから小さ目のコップを6つ置きます。一つ目は大好きだった母方の祖父。彼はブラックコーヒーが大好きでした。二つ目は晩年かわいがってくれた父方の祖母。彼女は緑茶が好きでした。三つ目は大叔母(母方の祖母の姉)。春には花見、夏には地元の花火、秋には紅葉狩りを現在も元気に暮らす実の妹である祖母とみんなでよく楽しんだものです。彼女も緑茶が好きでした。四つ目は義父。正直、結婚して私達がすぐに韓国に転勤で韓国に行ったこともあり、あまり人物的にはよくわからない人でした。義父が余命わずかと宣告されてから、帰国して、数ヶ月間看病をし始めて以降、まともに接したぐらいでした。そんな義父は緑茶やミルク入りのコーヒーが好きでした。五つ目は父方の伯母。彼女は私にとって唯一血のつながりのある伯母でした。美容師で、彼女のいつも口癖は「きれいな髪してるなぁ。今度切ってあげような。」彼女もコーヒーが好きでした。そして、最後は父方の祖父。実は私はこの祖父のことは本家にある写真や叔父達や叔母達の話でしか聞いたことがありません。父が中学生の頃に他界したので無理もないのですが...勝手な思い込みできっと昔の人だから、緑茶が好きだろうと思い、緑茶を入れて置いておきます。そして一人暮らしを始めるようになってからのこのお盆の期間中、毎朝6つのコップのお茶を交換するのが、私なりのささやかなお盆の儀式です。実家に帰省していても、とても変わってるとおそらく思われるでしょうが、これだけは不思議と家族の誰かがやっていますね。我が家には仏壇がないということもあり、これが私達ができる精一杯の他界した身近い者達へのささやかな供養なのです。そして、他界した身近な者に対していつでも帰っておいで!という意味も含まれています。私や私の家族は無宗派です。お墓ももちろん大事な宗教的な儀式だと思います。しかし「千の風に乗って」という歌の歌詞ではないけれど、姿や形がどんなに目に見えなくなっても、きっと風のように心の中に自分達が死ぬ日を迎えるまではいつまでも残り続けると思っています。It's the middle of the hot summer and the Bon summer week is here.As usual, I put a small tray in front of the big and small Ojizou sama.There I put horses made out of eggplants and cucumbers.Then I also put 6 small glasses on this tray.The first one is for my beloved grandpa on my mom's family. He loved drinking black coffees.The second one is for my grandpa on my dad's family.She loved me very much during the last years of her life.She loved drinking green teas.The third one is for my great aunt, who is my living grandma's elder sister.My grandma and my family enjoyed taking her out to see the cherry blossomsin the spring, inviting her over to see the local fireworks and going out to see the colorful leaves and mountains during fall.She, too loved green teas.The fourth one is for my father-in-law. To tell you the truth, I don't really know my father-in-law.That was because we had moved to Korea due to hiroro's transfer rightafter we got married. I got to know him quite well, when we were toldby his doctors that he would not live long and after we started to takecare of him.He liked also liked drinking coffees with milks and green teas.The fifth one is for my aunt, who was my dad's elder sister. She was my only aunt, who was in my bloodline.She was a hairdresser.She used to always say, "You have a beautiful hair, don't you!? I'll cut your hair next time."She also loved coffees.Lastly, it's for my grandpa on my dad's family.I never knew him. I only know him by the old photos at my uncle's house andstories that I hear from my uncles and aunts. He had passed away when my dad was only in junior highschool.From just my guess, since they lived in an era with nothing convinient,I thought he likes green teas.From the start of the Obon summer holidays and until the end of it, I change their drinks every mornings.I have been doing this every year, since I started living alone.Even if I go home during the Obon summer holidays, it maysound very strange but someone in my family is still do this.We don't have a Butsudan at our house.So this is the only small memorial services that we can do easily on our own.This is to tell our close souls that they are welcome to our home anytime they pleases.My family isn't a religious family at all.Ofcourse we think building a grave is important, too.But as it is sang in the famous song "Sen no Kazeni Notte(On Thousand winds)",although we can't see or talk no matter how we try hard, I'm very sure that eachindividual will continue on to live within all our hearts until we all die.