Obon is the time for honoring the dead and praying to the ancestral spirits. Traditionally it is believed that the souls of the departed return to the world of the living and later return at the end of Obon.

Many communities put on dances known as Bon Odori and put lanterns with the names of the departed in waterways. These lanterns represent the souls returning to the underworld, the other world.

The city of Morioka in northern Japan sends the spirits off in style by burning makeshift boats stuffed with fireworks.