Ōmisoka (大晦日), New Year’s Eve, is the second-most important day in Japanese tradition beca
Ōmisoka (大晦日), New Year’s Eve, is the second-most important day in Japanese tradition because it is the final day of the old year and the eve of New Year’s Day, which is the most important day of the year. Around 11:00 pm on Ōmisoka at home, people often gather for one last time in the old year to have a bowl of toshikoshi-soba (年越しそば) or toshikoshi-udon (年越しうどん) together—a tradition based on people’s association of eating the long noodles with “crossing over from one year to the next,” which is the meaning of toshi-koshi. While the noodles are often eaten plain, or with chopped scallions, in some localities people top them with tempura. Traditionally, families make Osechi (おせち) for new year day because cooking during the first 3 days of the new year is considered unlucky. See The Kitchen god. Nowadays, most families buy Osechi or cook ordinary dishes. At midnight, many visit a shrine or temple for Hatsumōde (初詣). Throughout Japan, Shinto shrines prepare amazake to pass out to crowds that gather as midnight approaches. Most Buddhist temples have a large cast bell (bonshō) that is struck once for each of the 108 earthly desires believed to cause human suffering. When seeing someone for the last time before the new year, it is conventional 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)”. -- source link
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