Toro Nagashi: Lantern Ceremony at Jackson Park

Please register here: https://endurancecui.active.com/event-reg/select-race?e=96927112 The Chicago Park District is proud to welcome you to our annual Toro Nagashi lantern ceremony in Jackson Park’s Osaka Garden. We invite you to join us in this meaningful ceremony to process the loss of loved ones, and to strengthen our bonds as a community.Only 300 registrants will be allowed into the space and will receive a lantern. Lanterns will be distributed on a first come first served basis until they run out. Participants may decorate and craft their lantern into any design they wish on-site from 7:00-8:00pm with the community.The ceremony of Toro Nagashi (literally, “floating lanterns”) is a Buddhist tradition held to celebrate the end of the Obon season. Toro Nagashi can be a smaller family affair to remember lost family members or a much bigger event to memorialize those who have been lost to natural disasters, war, and other causes. Toro Nagashi officially begins at the moment the ancestors commence their return to the spirit world. Communities come together to guide the spirits down to the water using traditional candle-lit lanterns (toro). The lanterns visually represent the spirits