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Japanese New Year: Holidays
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During the New Year, a special selection of dishes called osechi is eaten. Many of the food items in these dishes represent prosperity, good fortune and health. A soup called ozoni, consisting of miso, glutinous rice dumplings and vegetables is made for the holiday, too. More popular foods are knotted boiled kelp, fish cakes, mashed sweet potatoes with chestnuts, simmered burdoek root, and sweetened black soybeans. Sashami and Sushi are ... enjoyed, as well as some non-Japanese food. Many of these meals are sweet, sour or dried so they can be kept without refrigeration.
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The Japanese New Year occurs on January first of each New Year. As one of the most important holidays in Japan, it focuses on new beginnings. Families celebrate the holiday from January first through the third.
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Of all the annual holidays in Japan, the New Year (o-shogatsu) is often spoken of as the "most Japanese" of celebrations. With a history reaching back a thousand years, the traditional New Year's celebration is sprinkled with symbolism, and that symbolism is particularly evident in typical New Year's food.
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Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend.
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The Japanese New Year's holiday used to last several days; now it's been pared down to just three. New Year's Eve is devoted to kite flying and other fun and games. January1 and 2 are feast days.
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Preparations for the holiday are all completed by New Year's Eve. By then, all businesses and nearly all stores are closed, and a strange calm settles over both city and countryside. During the three-day holiday period, known as Shogatsu Sanganichi , everyone except those who run amusement enterprises or are responsible for essential services, such as transportation, have a period of vacation. For many people, the year-end holiday actuallv begins around December 29, when all public offices begin their vacations. Others end their work either on the 30th or early on the 31 st. In recent years, therefore, more people have been taking advantage of the long holiday to travel to the countryside for skiing and skating, or for relaxing at hot spring resorts.
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