Canberra Nara Candle Festive

Canberra and Nara, Japan are sister cities.

This is an annual festival held at the Nara Peace Park on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. The first candle festive was held in 2003 when a delegation of citizens from Nara participated in an informal ceremony to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Sister City relationship.

The Canberra Nara Candle Festival is based upon a much larger candle festival, known as the Nara 'Tokae' where in August each year, Nara's parks and special sites are bathed in the light of the thousands of candles. The name of this festival comes from the Japanese work 'to-ka' describing a shape resembling flower petals which sometimes forms around the wick when a candle is lit and the occurrence of this is believed to represent good fortune.

So off we headed to bathe ourselves not only in candle light but immerse ourselves in many Japanese traditions. We made our own lanterns, flew kites, watched samurai and sumo wrestling, had our name painted in Japanese, did origami, listened and watched some wonderful drumming performances and finally ate sushi.  With the hot weather it was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon and evening.

Ella  Katy