Fireworks in the Summer Night

ENTRY

2020.08.20

カテゴリー：ブログ

Hello everyone,

Did you have a nice Obon week? It was so hot and humid every day that I didn’t go outside much. It felt heavy with the blazing sun and high humidity. You couldn’t leave an air-conditioned room for more than a few minutes before becoming soaking wet. Everyone I met last week said “Atsui ne!” to me. I agree, it’s never this hot in Ireland. The highest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was 33 degrees in 1887. Usually, a hot day in Ireland is 25 degrees at this time of year. Last Sunday it was 40 degrees in Shizuoka! Luckily, my bedroom has air-conditioning, so I can sleep well at night. We have a kid’s paddling pool in the garden for my daughter to cool off in. It’s only big enough for me to put my feet in. We bought some small fireworks to play with in our garden in the evening. This is a summer tradition in Japan. There are small handheld fireworks (we call them “sparklers” in Ireland) that people light outside. My daughter loves using these, so we set off many in our garden. Why are fireworks so popular in Japan in summer? The first public firework display dates back to 1733 when fireworks were launched around the Sumida River to honor the souls of the one million people who had died the previous year due to extreme poverty as well as provide some entertainment to the general public. Since then, their popularity has grown all over Japan, and every city celebrates their summer festival with a big fireworks display. Of course this year most of those festivals are cancelled. But we’ll have many more to come in the future. Enjoy the summer!

Alan

みなさん、こんにちは。アランです。

お盆休みはいかがでしたか。１週間ずっと蒸し暑かったので私はほとんど外に出ませんでした。エアコンのある場所から離れられませんでした。私にあう人は皆、日本語で「あついね」と言ってきます。こんな暑さはアイルランドではありえません。アイルランドでは１８８７年の３３度が最高だそうです。例年、夏は２５度です。先週の日曜日は静岡で４０度になりました。娘は庭に設置した子供用プールで涼んでいましたが、私には足しか入らないサイズです。夜には、夏を味わうために花火をかって庭でやりました。日本の風習ですね。日本では夏の花火が人気がありますね、なぜでしょう。その歴史は１７３３年にさかのぼり、この年に隅田川で死者を弔うために打ち上げられたのだそうです。この花火がそのから催し物となり、今でも花火が夏の風物詩として人気になっています。今年はどこもイベントは中止ですが、来年以降はまた花火が見れるでしょう。ともかく、夏を楽しんでくださいね。