The New Year

This should have gone up a while ago. Oops!

The New Year celebration in Japan is different than New Year in the States. Here, I feel like there is a greater importance placed on the changing of the year and the symbolism of “new” year.  There are multiple ways the changing from one year to the next is commemorated here. I will try to give a succinct description of some of them , but honestly you could write a whole book delving into the specifics.

Food

New Years day food preparations take hours and hours of work to put together and include a specially prepared group bento called a “Osechi”. It contains herring roe, dried Japanese anchovies, sweetened black soybeans, crushed burdock root, sweet pure of chestnuts and sweet potato, shrimp, and steamed fish paste.  Each has a specific reason for being in the meal and has importance. Alongside the osechi sushi or sashimi is served and also rice cake (mochi) soup that is made differently depending on the region.

Bells

At midnight on December 31, Buddhist temples all over Japan ring their bells a total of 108 times to symbolize the 108 human sins in Buddhist belief, and to get rid of the 108 worldly desires regarding sense and feeling in every Japanese citizen.

First

The new Year brings the first time something will happen in the particular year, many of these thing are celebrated. An example of this is the first sunrise of the year. Before sunrise on January 1, people often drive to the coast or climb a mountain so that they can see the first sunrise of the New Year. Here in Tokushima people watched it over the Yoshino River or on top of Mt. Bizan

Hatsumōde is the first trip to a shrine or temple. Many people visit a shrine after midnight on December 31 (when they bells can be heard) or sometime during the day on January 1. People pray for their safety and for peace in the New Year.

Mochi

I mentioned the making of Mochi in a previous post but didn’t quite realize its significance at the time. During the New Year celebration mochi is not only eaten in the New Year meal but also used in decorations and hold symbolic meaning. The mocha is stacked and places with pine fronds and oranges on a pedestal as an offering for prosperity and longevity.

Postcards

New Year post cards are sent out similarly to Christmas cards in the states. They often have pictures of the New Year’s zodiac animal on them or a family picture.  This  year’s animal is the horse so we got a few postcards with horses on them wishing us luck in the new year. They post cards are often written one by one and in calligraphy.

Otoshidame

A gift of money is given to children in special paper envelopes on New Year’s Day. Every child in a family receives the same amount of money, usually around $100 dollars

We celebrated New Year ’s Eve by going down to the Shinmachi arcade by the river. We saw live music, ramen eating contest and lively hosts. We ate some roasted sweet potatoes and walked down the boardwalk where there were vendors sell street food and local goods. They handed out helium balloons and projected a live countdown on a large screen. At the stroke of midnight we let the balloons into the air and streamers shot into the sky alongside fireworks. We rode out bike home shortly afterward and could hear the bells ringing from the nearby temples.