Pictures: Lantern Festival in Jamaica Plain

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The Forest Hills Educational Trust held its 15th annual Lantern Festival at the Forest Hills Cemetery on Thursday night. Community members gathered to decorate lanterns and remember loved ones as they released hundreds of lanterns onto Lake Hibiscus’s placid waters.





The Forest Hills Educational Trust held its 15th annual Lantern Festival at the Forest Hills Cemetery on Thursday night. Community members gathered to decorate lanterns and remember loved ones as they released hundreds of lanterns onto Lake Hibiscus’s placid waters.


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Community members followed a path of torches through Forest Hills Cemetery to the Lantern Festival.


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Calligraphers dressed in kimonos drew Japanese characters on lanterns for festival attendees.


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Jenny Zuk provided haunting music while Luminarium Dance Company performed during the festival.


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Festival attendees decorated their lanterns with poems, pictures, and calligraphy in honor of loved ones.


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Angela Pierce (right) and her 4-year-old daughter decorated their lantern with the Japanese characters for “hope” and drawings. “It’s so magical,” Pierce said. “[The festival] is really pretty.”


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Elias, 4, had his lantern inscribed with “dragon.”


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Clara, 6, decorated her lantern in honor of her deceased brother, Sebastian. She had her lantern inscribed with the words “peace” (pictured) and “love.”


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Soke Grand Master Tsuji XI, the founder and artistic director of Samurai
Taiko Drummers, performed during the festival.


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Calligraphers drew characters such as “love,” “hope,” and “peace” on many lanterns.


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Larry Chafe of Roslindale decorated his lantern for his father, who passed away 5 years ago. “It’s a nice family event,” Chafe said. “Watching the lanterns, it’s a nice experience, and a nice social event.”


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Participants began to place their lighted lanterns on Lake Hibiscus around dusk.


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Lanterns gathered on the lake, their lights flickering on the calm surface of the water.


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Hundreds of lanterns drifted on the lake in remembrance of loved ones, peace, and love.


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The Lantern Festival, inspired by the Japanese Bon Festival, reminds participants that while loved ones may be gone, they are not forgotten.


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As the night crept closer, the lights burned brighter on the lake’s waters.


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The calm night allowed the lanterns and surrounding landscape to be reflected perfectly on the water’s surface.


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Some lanterns gathered on the shore, stationary in the breezeless night.


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