Hanamatsuri 2023
花祭り— Hanamatsuri at Makawao
We celebrated in-person and via live streaming for this year’s Hanamatsuri, festival of flowers, honoring the birth of Siddhartha Gautama who grew up to be the Awakened One, The Buddha. Rev. Kerry Kiyohara officiated the service. The Scouts of Troop 18 and Cubs of Pack 18 raised the flags.
Maui’s Mayor Richard T. Bissen issued a proclamation naming April 2 to 9, 2023 as Hanamatsuri Week throughout Maui County.
Inside the Hanamido, the flower pavilion representing Lumbini Garden where the baby Buddha was born, we bathed a statue of the baby Buddha with sweet tea. Please enjoy the photos below.
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We enjoyed watching the video “Birth of the Buddha” created last year by the amazingly talented young people of the Makawao Hongwanji Dharma School and remarked about how much our video’s stars had grown. Showing the video could become an annual temple tradition!
In addition to Buddha’s birthday, we celebrated April birthdays for Makawao Sangha members with cake and song.
