We’ve all heard of New Year’s Eve, but not everyone has heard of Omisoka, a similar holiday celebrated in Japan. Omisoka is a very important holiday for Japanese people, and is celebrated at the same time as New Year.
Just like New Year’s Eve, Omisoka is celebrated as the beginning of a new year with new possibilities, but their celebrations are a little different. Omisoka takes place on the last day of the year (December 31st).
Just like New Year’s Eve, Omisoka is celebrated as the beginning of a new year with new possibilities, but their celebrations are a little different. Omisoka takes place on the last day of the year (December 31st).
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In order to usher in the new year feeling fresh, families have to finish up cleaning their house and making preparations for the New Year holidays.
It is common to clean the whole house on this day, a ritual called Ôsouji, which literally means “big cleanup”; primary schools also perform Ôsouj before they go into their winter vacation.
On Omisoka it is traditional to eat noodles to see the old year out; at the very end of the day, usually around 11 o'clock at night, special noodles called toshikoshi-udon—literally “crossover year noodle”—are consumed.
A few minutes before midnight, crowds gather at the temple to hear the bell struck 108 times, a precaution intended to drive away all of the previous year’s sins and thus ensuring a fresh new start. This practice is based on a belief that humans have 108 earthly passions they have to overcome in order to attain enlightenment, and each ring is thought to drive away one such passion.
The breaking of dawn the next morning is much more than just the beginning of a new day. Oshogatsu (the first three days of the year) is Japan's biggest holiday, and people flock to temples and shrines to pray for a healthy and prosperous year - regardless of their religious affiliation.
Greetings:
When seeing someone for the last time before the new year, it is conventionally to say 良いお年を (yoi o-toshi wo), "Have a good New Year"; once the new year has started and one sees someone again for the first time, one instead says a greeting such as 明けましておめでとう (akemashite o-medetō) "Happiness on the opening (of a new year)".
On Omisoka it is traditional to eat noodles to see the old year out; at the very end of the day, usually around 11 o'clock at night, special noodles called toshikoshi-udon—literally “crossover year noodle”—are consumed.
A few minutes before midnight, crowds gather at the temple to hear the bell struck 108 times, a precaution intended to drive away all of the previous year’s sins and thus ensuring a fresh new start. This practice is based on a belief that humans have 108 earthly passions they have to overcome in order to attain enlightenment, and each ring is thought to drive away one such passion.
The breaking of dawn the next morning is much more than just the beginning of a new day. Oshogatsu (the first three days of the year) is Japan's biggest holiday, and people flock to temples and shrines to pray for a healthy and prosperous year - regardless of their religious affiliation.
Greetings:
When seeing someone for the last time before the new year, it is conventionally to say 良いお年を (yoi o-toshi wo), "Have a good New Year"; once the new year has started and one sees someone again for the first time, one instead says a greeting such as 明けましておめでとう (akemashite o-medetō) "Happiness on the opening (of a new year)".
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