Latest news with #worshipers


NHK
4 days ago
- NHK
Worshipers pray for ancestors with 100,000 candles at Koyasan, western Japan
Worshipers lit about 100,000 candles to pray for their ancestors at a sacred mountain in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan. Mount Koya, or Koyasan, is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Koyasan's candle festival takes place every year on August 13. It began at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. People offered silent prayers beside the candles that lined the about two-kilometer passage through the Okunoin area, one of the major sites on the mountain. Visitors walked slowly along the path and took photos, enjoying the scenery by candlelight. Numerous small lanterns bearing wishes written by worshipers were also placed on the path in a shape of a Chinese character meaning "bloom." The character was chosen to stand for the wish that a flower for everyone's happiness will bloom. A married couple from Wakayama City said they placed candles thinking of their grandparents. Another visitor said he made a wish for his family to stay healthy.

Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Wall Street Journal
The One Dish to Try (Five Different Ways) in Bangkok
Khao and gaeng are the Thai words for rice and curry, respectively. Put the two words together, however, and you get a dish that on the surface might sound simple—rice and curry—but contains a multitude of possibilities. Nowhere is that truer than in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, where tastes and traditions from across the country collide and commingle. In Bangkok, you'll spot khao gaeng everywhere: at a stall that opens at 2 a.m., opposite the city's main wholesale food market; outside a mosque where worshipers congregate after they answer the call to prayer; along the buzzing streets, where the sound of spoons scratching plates adds to the city's cacophony. At each, you'll be confronted by a vast selection of pots, bowls and pans filled with fragrant curries alongside mountains of rice. To order, just point to the two or three saucy dishes you want ladled onto a mound of rice. Typically, you won't pay more than $2 for an ample meal.