A Japanese New Year
Dec. 31st, 2009 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerJust considering some of the odds and ends about New Year's in Japan. This is the holiday, more than Christmas, even though the merchants love Christmas -- lots of lights, decorations, and all that. Still, the real holiday is New Year's day -- or even New Year's eve.
Most of this week, the TV shows have been specials. And today, we're all looking forward to the NHK special -- kouhaku uta gassen 紅白歌合戦 or こうはくうたがっせん. 7:15 to 11:45 -- four and a half hours of mostly singing performances, with a red and white side, and some kind of voting to pick the "winner" -- but the main thing is collecting the old and new stars from across Japan for the show. And just about everyone watches it. Incidentally, the name is red white singing battle or contest. Part of the fun is watching the old stars -- what will Mikawa Kenji (a cross-dresser) wear this year? How about that wild singer whose costume usually takes over the stage? What will she do this year? And which of the young groups will be on?
Of course, at midnight, we have the first temple bells ringing in the new year. And many people go to the temples at midnight, for a sip of sweet sake and a prayer for the new year. Hatsumoude (初詣 or はつもうで) is that first visit, which can be done that night, or during the first couple of days.
New Year's day, we'll all greet each other with "akemashite omedito gozaimasu. Kotoshi mo dozo yoroshiku" or "...yoroshiku onegai shimasu." Which means, roughly, it is beginning or opening. This year, again, please be kind to me or perhaps please help me. The longer one, with onegai shimasu, emphasizes the pleading. So we celebrate the beginning of the new year by asking family, friends, and other relations including customers to help us in the coming year.
Let's see. New Year's day, traditionally, would be spent with friends and close family, eating ozoni -- New Year's foods. Mostly various delicacies that can be prepared ahead and kept cold for the two or three days of visiting that used to be customary -- and the stores used to be closed, too. More recently, the stores just barely hiccup, but the traditional foods still get made or bought. Mochi -- pounded sweet rice cakes, basically lumps of carbs -- get toasted, fried, served in sweet bean soup, and otherwise offered. Dried fish, egg souffle, etc.
The second, and up to about the fifth, friends visit. So people drop in, and everyone offers some of the snacks, maybe drinks a bit, and then on to the next house.
A time to visit family, friends, and kick off a New Year with hopes for help from everyone. That web of relationships is central to Japan, and this is one of the holiday festivals that re-affirms it.
And so, it begins. This year, again, please give me your kind help.
Most of this week, the TV shows have been specials. And today, we're all looking forward to the NHK special -- kouhaku uta gassen 紅白歌合戦 or こうはくうたがっせん. 7:15 to 11:45 -- four and a half hours of mostly singing performances, with a red and white side, and some kind of voting to pick the "winner" -- but the main thing is collecting the old and new stars from across Japan for the show. And just about everyone watches it. Incidentally, the name is red white singing battle or contest. Part of the fun is watching the old stars -- what will Mikawa Kenji (a cross-dresser) wear this year? How about that wild singer whose costume usually takes over the stage? What will she do this year? And which of the young groups will be on?
Of course, at midnight, we have the first temple bells ringing in the new year. And many people go to the temples at midnight, for a sip of sweet sake and a prayer for the new year. Hatsumoude (初詣 or はつもうで) is that first visit, which can be done that night, or during the first couple of days.
New Year's day, we'll all greet each other with "akemashite omedito gozaimasu. Kotoshi mo dozo yoroshiku" or "...yoroshiku onegai shimasu." Which means, roughly, it is beginning or opening. This year, again, please be kind to me or perhaps please help me. The longer one, with onegai shimasu, emphasizes the pleading. So we celebrate the beginning of the new year by asking family, friends, and other relations including customers to help us in the coming year.
Let's see. New Year's day, traditionally, would be spent with friends and close family, eating ozoni -- New Year's foods. Mostly various delicacies that can be prepared ahead and kept cold for the two or three days of visiting that used to be customary -- and the stores used to be closed, too. More recently, the stores just barely hiccup, but the traditional foods still get made or bought. Mochi -- pounded sweet rice cakes, basically lumps of carbs -- get toasted, fried, served in sweet bean soup, and otherwise offered. Dried fish, egg souffle, etc.
The second, and up to about the fifth, friends visit. So people drop in, and everyone offers some of the snacks, maybe drinks a bit, and then on to the next house.
A time to visit family, friends, and kick off a New Year with hopes for help from everyone. That web of relationships is central to Japan, and this is one of the holiday festivals that re-affirms it.
And so, it begins. This year, again, please give me your kind help.
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Date: 2009-12-31 11:56 am (UTC)