New Year in Japan

New Year is the most important holiday in the calendar rites of the Japanese. A lot of games, rituals and ceremonies are associated with it. New Year holidays in Japan have the largest number of vacations. Typically, holidays stretch from December 29 to January 3 , and almost all government and commercial institutions in the country do not work ^{[1] [2]} .

At the end of December, on the eve of the New Year, the Japanese clean their homes, buy gifts for friends and relatives, send New Year greeting cards ( Japanese 賀 賀 状 nengajo:) , prepare holiday dishes, put pine ornaments Kadomatsu at the entrance to the house ( Japanese 門 松 , literally "pine at the entrance") , which symbolically protect the house from evil forces. On New Year's holidays, many Japanese go to their native places, visit temples where they pray and ask for prosperity for themselves and their loved ones. Girls and women, on the occasion of such an event, wear haregi ( 晴 れ 着 ) - colorful insulated kimonos ^[2] .

The arrival of the New Year is heralded by 108 bells. According to Buddhist beliefs, 108 fatal worries burden a person, and every bell blow drives one of these worries away. To the sound of the bells, the first visit to the temples begins in the new year - Hatsumode ( Jap. 初 詣 ) . On Hatsumode, the Japanese go to both Shinto and Buddhist temples ^{[1] [2]} . In addition to Hatsumode , there are other events, “the first in the new year,” for example, Hatsuhinode ( Japanese 初 日 の 出 ) - the first dawn, Sigoto-Hajime ( Japanese 仕事 始 め ) - The first work, Hatsugama ( Japanese 初 釜 ) - The first tea ceremony , and so on.

The traditional dishes that the Japanese eat on New Year's Eve are called oseti-ryori ( 御 節 料理 or お 節 料理 ) ^[3] , or simply oseti . Usually consists of boiled seaweed ( jap. 昆布 kombu ) , fish pie ( jap. 蒲 鉾 kamaboko ) , sweet potato puree with chestnuts ( jap. 栗 き ん と ん kurikinton ) , boiled burdock root ( jap. 金 平 牛蒡 kimpira gobo:) , and sweet black soybeans ( Jap. 豆 ам kuromeme ) . Many of these dishes are sweet, sour, or dried, so they can be stored without a refrigerator . There are many different options for oseti , and it happens that dishes that are consumed in one region may not be consumed (or even banned) in another. Today, sashimi and sushi , as well as non-Japanese food, are often consumed for a holiday.

It’s hard to imagine a Japanese New Year’s table without mochi ( 餅 餅 ) - a dessert made from sticky rice varieties ( 餅 米 motigome ) . Moti for the New Year is a wish for prosperity, wealth and a good harvest next year. Since ancient times, round mochi have been associated with round mirrors - indispensable attributes of the goddess Amaterasu ^[2] .

There is a custom to decorate a house with bamboo or willow branches with mochi suspended in them in the form of fish, fruits, and flowers. etc. These ornaments are called motibana ( 餅 花 花 ) , they are painted in different colors and are installed in a conspicuous place or hung from the ceiling at the entrance. This is done so that the deity of the New Year “entering” into the house — the Toshigami ( 年 年 ) - remembers his “duty” to take care of the owners in the new year. After the holidays, the motibana is eaten, and, according to tradition, each member of the family should eat as much as he was this year ^[2] .

Another type of holiday mochi is the kagami mochi ( 鏡 餅 , literally “mirror rice cakes”) - in a simple form, they are two mochi, interconnected, with Japanese orange attached to the top ( 橙 橙 daidai ) .

For the New Year, it is customary to play traditional New Year's games. For example, Hanetsuki - a game of shuttlecocks, Sugoroku - a board game of dice with mobile chips, Uta-Garuta - New Year's cards with verses by Hyakunin Issyu , launching kites and tops . The temple shops sell various New Year's talismans and souvenirs: hamaimi - arrows with white plumage and a dull point, protecting the house from evil and misfortune; kumade - a rake made of bamboo, similar to a "bear paw", which according to legend you can "rake" happiness; takarabune - the ships of the Seven Gods of Fortune , filled with rice and other treasures ^{[1] [2]} .

The New Year’s custom of giving children money is called otosidama ( お 年 玉 ) ^[3] . Money is put in small decorated envelopes called potibukuro . The amount of money put in the envelope depends on the age of the child, but if there are several children in the family, then the amounts are usually the same so that no one feels left out.

In the early days of the New Year, stores sell sealed bags or boxes with unknown content for the buyer, called fukubukuro .