Pahala’s Last (Bon) Dance: The Dead Are Not Dead

Abstract

Based on conversations, excavated memories, and family stories, this autoethnographic narrative represents an evocative account of spirituality, loss, identity, and home. The author’s summer visit to Pahala, a former sugar plantation town on the Big Island of Hawai’i and the hometown of her parents, conjures unexpected memories of death comingling with life. The highlight of her visit was experiencing the town’s last bon dance, an annual Buddhist ritual to entertain ancestral spirits that return home during the summer months. Consequently, the author experiences a memory dance with her dead father.