Brazil Hozo Shrine Festival Held in Brazil
Two Million and Three Hundred Eighty Soul Registers from 16 Countries Newly Installed
In Brazil, the 57th Brazil Hozo Shrine Memorial Festival and the 29th Memorial Service at the Neglected Souls of Aborted Children of Ibero American Countries and Angola Memorial Tower were held from April 13 to 14 at the Brazil Hozo Shrine in Ibiuna, Sao Paulo. A total of 2,386,383 soul registers from 16 countries including Brazil were newly installed.
The number of people who visited the Hozo Shrine during the Festival was about 12,948. The Festival was simultaneously transmitted on the Internet to Missionary Branches in Brazil and Latin American countries. In addition, for Regional Lecturers and Enlightenment Leaders unable to view it at transmission sites at Missionary Centers, etc., viewing it on the PCs at home was made possible. This helped dramatically reduce the amount of CO2 emissions resulting from the movement of people.
Also, to reduce CO2 emissions, CO2 reduction filters, which were introduced two years ago and proved successful, were installed on all six iron incinerators to burn the soul registers. This also contributed to a dramatic reduction of CO2 emissions.
The main festival of the Hozo Shrine took place from 9:30 a.m. on April 14. There was the reading by the attendees of the Holy Sutra, Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines for the newly-memorialized souls. From 1:00 p.m. the Memorial Service at the Neglected Souls of Aborted Children of Ibero American Countries and Angola Memorial Tower was held.
Prior to this, on April 14, the soul extraction ceremony and the purification flame ceremony were held in the morning, and the calling of the souls to be newly memorialized was held in the afternoon.
The attendees’ comments included: “I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to offer my love to my ancestors through the soul registers. I feel that attending the Memorial Service to memorialize my ancestors’ souls has brought a lot of blessings to me and my family.”
Remarks by Rev. Junji Miyaura, Bishop of Seicho-No-Ie Latin America
“On the day before the Memorial Service we had heavy rain. But on the day of the Memorial Service the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. I served as the Head Priest for the first time. I called out the souls of 75 lecturers who passed away last year after dedicating themselves to the growth of Seicho-No-Ie in Brazil and offered my prayer. I was deeply moved.”