 |
| Crab! |
 |
| Steamed Oysters--Yum! |
Although my back is still far from 100%, it healed enough for me to travel to Fukuoka for the New Year's holiday. I spent most of my time eating traditional Japanese foods, shopping with the kids and watching TV. My in-laws got the chance to spoil the kids with money and gifts and certainly enjoyed being able to do so, now that we're here in Japan for a while. My wife also enjoyed being able to visit her family and friends, and I was glad she had the opportunity to do so, as New Year's is the most important holiday in Japan and we're unlikely to be back in Japan during the winter anytime in the near future.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HERE IS SOME INFORMATION ABOUT NEW YEAR'S TRADITIONS IN JAPAN BY KANEKO OF THE ISHIKAWA JET ALUMNI ASSOCIATION:
New Year, although “Shogatsu” means January, it is generally celebrated for the first three days or the first week of January and is the most important period for the Japanese. Schools and business close for one week or more, after about December 29th, and many people who live away from their families return home to spend this time with their families. To prepare for “Shogatsu” a general house cleaning is done, and New Year’s pine and bamboo decoration, sacred straw festoon, and round mirror-shaped rice cake are set out. On New Year’s Eve, bells speeding the old year are 108 times rung at temples and the New Year is welcomed by eating year-crossing noodles. On New Year’s Day, many ware Japanese style Kimono and people go for the first temple or shrine visit of the New Year and pray for health and happiness in the New Year. Shogatsu is also enjoyed by reading New Year’s cards and by children receiving New Year’s gifts.
New Year dishes, Osechi-ryori are special side dishes eaten on the first three days of the New Year. Tiered lacquer boxes are abundantly loaded with multi-hued side dishes, grilled or boiled dishes and vinegary dishes. It appears that present-day Osechi-ryori was developed with the particular practice of keeping it as is for a while, because it is splendid to look at and also out of consideration for reducing housewives’ work for three days. There are some regional differences but Osechi contents are essentially fixed. Those contents are respectively charged with wishes: for example, sea bream (Tai) is “auspicious” (medetai), herring roe (Kazu no ko) indicates” the prosperity for one’s descendants” and sea tangle roll (kobu maki)
means “happiness” (yorokobu).
Kadomatsu are decorations made with assembled pine branches enhanced by stems of bamboo and sprays of plum tree. During the New Year period, a pair of them, one for each side and placed in front of the house gate. In Japan pine, bamboo, and plum tree are taken as good luck, and pine in particular has been valued since ancient times as meaning longevity. Originally, Kadomatsu were for receiving the year of god.
Shimekazari decorates doors at New Year and serves as a charm against evil spirits. The sacred Shinto rope is hung to indicate a purified place for receiving divinities. The Shimekazari is made by attaching good luck charms like bitter oranges, ferns and lobster to the sacred Shinto rope.
Hatsuyume refers to the dream that occurs the night of New Year’s Day to the morning of the 2nd. If it is an auspicious dream, it is said that the coming year will be a good one. Good dreams, counting from the top, are said to be about “first, Mt. Fuji; second, hawks; third, eggplant”
Zoni is a soup with rice cake (mochi) and vegetables and is an essential dish for celebrating the New Year. In the Kanto area, zoni is generally prepared as a clear soup with square mochi, while in Kansai, it is made with bean paste and round mochi. But the seasoning and other ingredients are different according to each region and household.
Kagami-mochi is a set of two round shaped flat rice cake large and small, about 10-20cm in size stacked on a stand. At New Year, they are displayed in the alcove and offered to the Shinto and Buddhist deities. In Japan there are the old beliefs that at New Year the revered divinity know as the year god (Toshigami) visits homes and the original significance of Kagami-mochi was as worship offerings to the year god.
Nengajo, this is a card sent as a greeting for the New Year. It usually has a picture of an animal appropriately corresponding with that year’s sexagenary cycle (eto) and is sent so that it arrives on New Year’s Day. Japan Post cards indicating a New Year’s gift are popular, because a prize is awarded by lottery. Most business Nengajo come complete with the printed contents, while writing one’s own Nengajo can tax one’s ingenuity. Nengajo also arrive from old friends, it is a pleasure both to write such cards and to receive them.
Otoshidama is money given at New Year to children by parents and relatives who come to visit. Originally, it was said to be a custom born from sharing rice cakes dedicated to the deities at New Year as something bestowed anew by the deities. In recent years, along with the reduced number of children, the amount of Otoshidama money given to one child is increasing. So much that it is not so strange for parents with a lot of expenses at this season to want to make a loan of the money to their children.
