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Japanese New Year: New Years
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The New Year traditions are ... a part of Japanese poetry, including haiku and renga. All of the traditions above would be appropriate to include in haiku as kigo (season words). There also haiku that celebrate many of the "first" of the New Year, such as the "first sun" (hatsuhi) or "first sunrise", "first laughter" (waraizome — starting the New Year with a smile is considered a good sign), and first dream (hatsuyume). Since the traditional New Year was later in the year than the current date, many of these mention the beginning of spring.
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New Year's marked the rebirth of nature itself, as it was thought of as the first day of spring. And, due to the traditional manner of figuring age, by which one counted the yearly cycles one had been a part of, New Year's was a "birthday" of sorts for everyone, the day on which all people added one to their ages (a baby born near midnight on the last day of the 12th month would ... be age 2 within an hour of its birth.)
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During these 15 days of the Chinese New Year one will see superstitious or traditional cultural beliefs with meanings which can be puzzling in the eyes of those who do not celebrate this occasion. There is a customary reason that explains why everything, not just limited to decorations, are centered on the color red. At times, gold is the accompanying color for reasons that are already obvious. One best and common example is the red diamond-shaped posters with the character ç¦ (pinyin: fú), or "auspiciousness" which are displayed around the house and on doors. This sign is usually seen hanging upside down, since the Chinese word 倒 (pinyin: dÇo), or "upside down", sounds similar as 到 (pinyin: dà o), or "arrive". Therefore, it symbolizes the arrival of luck, happiness, and prosperity.
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This is another very exclusive video which features an incredible look at a Japanese Buddhist Shusho-e ceremony or 'New Year's Day service' that was held in a small Buddhist temple in West Tokyo. The Shusho-e service is the first Buddhist service of the year and dates back to the Nara period in Japan. This very moving and spiritual service is done as a way of praying and wishing for world peace and ... to reflect on the past and go on to live a better new year. This service also includes 'Nembutsu' which is the custom of chanting praise to Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Eternal Life. Amida Buddha is the central Buddha of Pure Land Buddhism which is very popular in East Asia as it provides a straightforward method of expressing faith as a Buddhist.
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Japanese rice wine, nihonshu, belongs to the new year as well. Especially the men in Japan drink a lot in new year, and drinking as much as one desires is even encouraged. Thus you can spot many drunken men in the trains in New Year.
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...They observe the custom of the kitchen god tao for a week before the New Year, they believe there are three gods represented by the three legs of the cooking equipment used in the kitchen. The middle god is a woman the other two are her husbands. It was once customary to provide the gods with a carp on which to travel. The carp represents the second last stage in the process by which animals are gradually transformed into dragons. They buy the carp from the market, bring it home and place it in a bucket of water to place at the altar of the house before it is later set free....
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