Japanese New Year

The Japanese New Year is called shogatsu oroshogatsu  and it is the most important
holiday in Japan.  Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated on January 1st, instead of the New Year based on Lunar Calendar (Chinese New Year).
December is also called Shiwasu  in Japanese, and the kanji (word) literally means “masters/teachers run”.  It basically implies that December is so busy that even self-composed masters/teachers are on the run.
During the last few days of December, people meticulously clean their homes, business offices, and stores and scrub top-to-bottom.  This annual tradition is called Osoji , “the big cleaning”.  We think it’s important to eliminate the dust, dirt, and clutter from the passing year and to welcome the New Year with a clean and fresh emotional state.

After the house is cleaned, New Year’s decorations like Kado Matsu,  are set up on both sides of front entrance.  They are made of pine and 3 bamboo stalks that are cut diagonally in different lengths.  Pine boughs are symbolic of longevity and bamboo stalks are symbolic of prosperity.

A traditional decoration Kagami Mochi, which literally means “mirror mochi rice cake,” is placed inside the house.  Kagami mochi is two round mochi, with the smaller mochi placed atop the larger mochi.  A “daidai” Japanese orange is placed on top of the mochi along with leaves and other decorations.

Mochi Tsuki , or pounding rice to make mochi, is an important traditional event in preparation for the New Year and it’s usually performed at the end of the year.

New Year’s Eve is called Omisoka .  The Japanese usually celebrate the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with family and this holiday is equivalent to the American Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Each family has different tradition for New Year’s Eve dinner, but the popular menus include sushi, sashimi, hot pot (sukiyaki, yosenabe, and shabu shabu), and in some regions of Japan, people started eating Osechi Ryori on the Eve’s.

Before the year ends, another food the Japanese eat is Toshikoshi Soba  (recipe) because the long, thin noodles symbolize longevity.  We used to eat a small bowl of soba (as a snack) while watching the singing contest.

What kind of foods do we eat? 

Happy New Year!

http://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-new-year/