Tea is poured over a statue of the Baby Buddha at the Marysville Buddhist Church on Sunday to recreate the legend that sweet tea rained from the skies when the Buddha was born in 563 B.C.
For years, Buddhism was something that Yuba City resident Terry Okimoto practiced only in her memory.
Growing up, her family was devoted to the faith, but as a young woman she married a Christian man, joined his church, and focused her attention on the teachings of his faith.
Yet, at the Marysville Buddhist Church on Sunday,
Okimoto returned once again to the rituals of Hanamatsuri, the festival celebrating the birth of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama in 563 B.C.
Buddhist church members such as Okimoto marked the occasion with a service that included the pouring of tea over a statue of the Baby Buddha, an act symbolizing the events of his birth.
"I'm relearning things I was taught when I was young," Okimoto, 78, said after Sunday's service.
About 80 people attended the service and a party that took place afterward, according to Buddhist Church secretary Miyoko Nakahara.
The festival, which was open to the general public, included a "Buddha Bash" following the religious component, with food and hands-on taiko drumming for children.
The Rev. Molly Kimura of Sacramento, a guest minister, officiated the Hanamatsuri service, which also included a reading of Shotsuki names, or the names of the deceased.
Kimura, a Yuba City native who was ordained as a Buddhist priest 10 years ago, described Hanamatsuri as a joyful occasion that symbolizes the beginning of enlightenment.
"If Baby Buddha did not appear in this world we would be in the dark," said Kimura, 80. "We were born into this life to hear the teaching."
For the tea-pouring ceremony, congregation members put a statue of the Baby Buddha in a hanamido, or miniature altar. The hanamido, decorated with flowers donated by the congregation, represents the garden where the Baby Buddha was born.
Tea was poured over the statue to symbolize the sweet tea that was said to have fallen after his birth.
"It was a joyful day," explained Kimura said, who is also trained in classical Japanese music and traditional floral art. "The whole earth shook with joy. They say that sweet tea rained."
Okimoto said she has gained much from sharing Buddhist teachings.
"This is what I want to do while I'm still on this earth," she said.
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