These photos were taken at the Lantern Festival at Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain.

The event in Boston is modeled after a traditional Japanese festival, celebrated in Japan as "Bon" or Urabon, The Feast of Lanterns, especially by the Japanese Buddhists. It is said that during the year, on this day only, the iron pot in hell is opened for the deceased. Buddhist services are held at temples and private houses for ancestors, relatives and friends who died in the past, and particularly for those who passed away during the past year.

"Toro-Nagashi", or "lantern floating", is the picturesque ending to the Obon service. To guide the ancestral spirits back to the other world, little paper lanterns are lighted with candles and floated down rivers or on the sea.

It's unbelievably beautiful and serene to see.