Obon Kazari

Have some Japan #33331

Obon.  Obon is when your dead relatives come back to visit you.  You thought you'd seen the last of Auntie Vera with her chronic flatulence and mild tourette syndrome but no, she's coming back to stay for the week.

An effigy of a horse and a cow are place outside houses.  The horse is for said ghost's speedy arrival and the cow for their slow departure.  These are often made with a cucumber and an aubergine.   I kid you not.