Hiroshima Peace Ceremony

On August 6th at exactly 8:15am, the Hiroshima Peace Ceremony began with a ding of the peace bell and a minute of silence to think about the people who died from the a-bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima 62 years ago. It was a very emotional ceremony, but great to experience. I feel privileged that I got to see such a special ceremony take place in Hiroshima. Just before the ceremony, we got to make paper cranes to donate as a symbol of peace. We had no idea how to make them, even with the step-by-step instructions because paper cranes are so complicated to make. We asked a Japanese man in front of us if he could help us make it and he was so patient with us and showed us each step so that we could get it right. I love the mentality of the Japanese people. Anytime they can help you, they will.

This is the finished product of the paper crane that I made.















During the ceremony, they had many special people come up and make speeches. The one I was most impressed with was when two sixth grade students came up on stage in front of thousands of people and talked about how the a-bomb tragedy has affected the nation, and how they have risen above it and have become stronger as a result. It made me cry.

It was good to see the Secretary General of the United Nations get up and make a speech about peace, too.

After the ceremony, many people lined in front of the dome to say their silent prayers of peace. I love this photo I took of the school boys all lined up paying their respects with one of the boys going ahead to place a flower beside the dome.















There were also an array of daisies displayed around the dome which looked really nice. I took a close-up shot of this because I really liked the look of them.









At night time, we came back to the Peace Park by the river and watched thousands of people put lanterns in the river.




As dawn turned to dusk, you could see the candles inside the lanterns light up and it looked so peaceful and calming watching thousands of lanterns float down the river.





It was unlike anything I have ever seen before and I loved seeing this unique ritual with my own eyes. We took sooo many photos of these lanterns that it was really hard for me to decide which ones I was going to put on my blog!