January is the month which we can sense tradition of Japan.
New year’s day Everything new and clean! My heart, mind and spirit are all clear and clean on January 1st. It is same day with day and night of 24 hours as the day of December 31st but different. I love the feeling of everything is reset new and I feel very positive and confident.
Especially this year I stayed in Japan enjoying ending of December and new year.
Food called osechi and zoni, typical food. All have meaning of wishing new year’s good fortune and longevity. Mochi: rice cake is a food from God’s spirits, protecting and blessing us. Boiled shrimp is curved, which look like an old with his back bent. A hole of lotus root indicate bright future.
Plants 松竹梅 Pine, bamboo, plum are the most formal, celebrating plants. Pine is ever green which is a symbol of longevity, Bamboo is also green even in winter. In China Bamboo is a tree of a king. Plum blooms the earliest than any other trees. These three has been the best and used for celebrating wedding and a new year. Plum smells so soft and sweet!
Kimono, Japanese folk costume, are more enjoyed than any other time of the year. Especially Coming to the age Day young women of the age of 20 or 19 wear furisode -long sleeved kimono, So beautiful. For a woman , she is a star in her family and her own life.
Otoshidama is a new year’s money for children. Children’s favorite. If kids want more Otoshidama, he, she should say “Happy New Year!” politely.
January is the months of family time and spending money. Japanese are enjoying both tradition an superstition.
Then day by day I don’t feel like it’s a new year forgetting new year’s resolution.So I takes out my note in which I wrote goals and remember the feeling when I had written.