In Japan, New Year's is by far the biggest and most important holiday on the calendar. An easy way to comparatively explain it would be to combine Christmas and New Year's into one holiday. Not only do families get together and celebrate at this time of year, but there are many rituals and traditions to be carried out both before and during New Year's Day. Before I jump into what customs and traditions we did to celebrate my first New Year's in Japan, I figured I would explain a bit about the holiday and specifically the customs that are performed during the holiday period that I won't be mentioning in my later posts.
While throughout most of its history, Japan's New Year's followed the Chinese lunar calendar. However in 1873, the Gregorian calendar was adopted and New Year's has been on January 1st ever since.
New Year's is a very big family holiday. Many people return to their family and ancestors' original hometown, as has been the tradition for centuries. It is one of the few times that Tokyo is much quieter and emptier than normal. Many people move to Tokyo or the Tokyo area for work and then return to their family home during this time where the older generation often remains. Often this traveling will occur a little before New Year's, as there are many things to take care of before the actual holiday.
One of the earliest things to get done is New Year's cards. The nengajō (年賀状, ねんがじょう) is basically a postcard that people send to family and friends in much the same way that Christmas cards are sent in other places of the world. Stores sell a wide variety of cards that have New Year's designs or the animal of the Zodiac for that year. Post Offices everywhere show the deadline that cards need to be dropped off in order to be sent by January 1st. The post office also has an interesting service of making New Year's cards a lottery as well. When people purchase New Year's cards to write on, there is a number printed on the bottom. The post office then picks numbers at random and winners receive things like trips, electronics, bicycles, food from any region in Japan (a much nicer prize than what you might think, as there are lots of specialties in Japan), and lastly, stamps.
Ōsōji (大掃除, おおそうじ) is where schools, businesses and houses are cleaned in preparation for the next year. The last day for schools and businesses are spent by everyone cleaning everything for their return in the new year. Households are usually cleaned on Ōmisoka, which is the Japanese New Year's Eve. The cleaning at the house even includes the replacement of paper on shōji, the traditional Japanese doors and windows.
Also on Ōmisoka is the Kōhaku Uta Gassen. This famous radio and TV program started in 1951, translates as 'Red and White Song Battle.' The program is a singing competition between the most popular female (red team) and most popular male (white team) musicians of the year. The program goes on for over 4 hours as each team's 25 or more members compete against each other. The winning team is decided by the most votes, which the audience and people watching at home can send in. The program goes until about 11:45, when stations switch to the New Year's festivities and events that are about to happen.
Otoshidama (お年玉, おとしだま) is another New Year's traditional when people will give an envelope containing money to children for the New Year.
Here's a little introduction to some of the events and traditions revolving around the New Year's holiday in Japan. There are many more and some of the biggest ones I will be covering in my next few posts where I will go over the events I participated in during the New Year holiday.
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