LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Japanese New Year: Traditions
built 645 days ago
One common traditional New Year activity still practiced today is to wait up through the night to see the first sunrise of the New Year. The mythical tale explaining the seasons, in which the sun goddess Amaterasu hides herself away in a cave after her brother Susanoo's commits rebellious and sacrilegious acts against her, thereby throwing the world in wintry darkness, explains the importance given to the emergence of the sun at the New Year. Amaterasu, the legend says, is drawn from the cave in curiosity at the laughter evoked by another goddess' bawdy dance, and the world is restored to light and springtime. This myth, along with the mating practices of most of the natural world, explains some of the erotic connotations of the word "spring" in Japan (as in "spring prints" or shunga).
Source:
A: As has become a tradition, Matsuriza, the Taiko Drum group from Orlando, will be here to help ring in the New Year. Their performance is quite spectacular and depicts an ancient art form.
Source:
Hayashi hoped to celebrate New Years in traditional American style. If he was able to get a plane ticket, he would fly to New York City and watch the lighted ball drop in Times Square.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Traditions