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New Year for the Japanese
...By H. Ganesh
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New Years' Day is the key of the year, goes a Japanese
saying. It is the start of a new life - for new hopes and dreams.
The holidays begin about a week before and continue until the 4th
or 5th of January. During this period, the traffic is almost muffed
and the shopping malls are closed. Those living overseas, almost without
exception, return home for family get together.
Generally, the New Year decorations are with Kado-matsu
(gate pine). To the Japanese, pine symbolizes endurance, since it survives even
in the coldest winter. Most homes are decked with pine at the doorways.
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During the New Year, the Japanese customarily visit Shinto-shrines for
hatsumode, or New Year pilgrimage to shrines that lie in a lucky
direction. They believe that the God of the year comes from a lucky direction
that varies each year.
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Exchanging New Year Cards is another custom that carries calligraphic
inscription or picture taken from mythology or folk tales or a scenic beauty or
a painting. The traditional Japanese calendar is based on the Chinese division
of the course of the Sun into 12 parts - designating them as the rat, ox,
tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and wild
boar. In the Middle Ages, these signs were supposed to influence human life,
indicating 12 different parts of the human body. A disease was supposed to be
cured by the aid of the divisional power residing in that part of the body. This
old superstition still persists.
On the morning of New Year’s
day, all members of the family sit down
at the breakfast table and eat Ozoni (New Year’s Day Breakfast),
greeting each other with "Happy New Year!" Ozoni consists of a thick
soup of rice cakes and vegetables. They take this Ozoni breakfast during the
first three days of New Year.
The other interesting facets of the event are
Otoshidama
(New Year's gift), Hanetsuki (outdoor game of battledore and
shuttlecock) and Karuta-tori (Card picking game). All these are
meant to invoke the Divine for blessings and also to measure one's luck as the
New Year begins.
A foreigner, ignorant of all these filial and superstitious activities,
will wonder whether the Japanese has his psyche buried still in the mysterious
past. In fact, the most enduring aspect of Japanese life is the co-existence of
the past with the present. This is also true of India to a very large extent. It
is therefore not so mysterious for an Indian to appreciate the roots the
Japanese have in their past. Many people presume that the Japanese have lately
weaned away from their deep-rooted customs and superstitions. This is not quite
right. But since it is hardly possible for a foreigner to participate in such
rituals nor speak about it without language barriers, he has every reason to
believe that the Japanese today have been Americanized!
In order to understand the Japanese
personality and belief systems, one
needs to stay for long in Japan and also be fortunate in acquiring more than
superficial friendship with the native people. Thereby one can discover a mine
of information and a fund of insight into REAL Japan. The effort is rewarding!
H. Ganesh
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