2010/01/01

Japanese New Year

Happy New Year !
It is the beginning of a new year.

Hatsuyume初夢
is the Japanese word for the first dream had in the new year.
The hatsuyume was often the dream seen the night of January 1.
It is considered to be particularly good luck to dream of
Mount Fuji 富士), a hawk (鷹), and an eggplant 茄子).

Mt. Fuji from Enoshima
Jan. 1, 2010



We can see Black Kite
(Milvus migrans)
family Hawk
flying in the sky of
Enoshima coast.






Osechi-ryori

We eat a special selection of dishes during the New Year celebration
called osechi-ryori (御節料理), typically shortened to osechi.
This consists of boiled seaweed (昆布 kombu),
fish cakes (蒲鉾 kamaboko),
mashed sweet potato with chestnut (栗きんとん kurikinton),
and sweetened black soybeans (黒豆 kuromame).
Many of these dishes are sweet, sour, or dried,
so they can keep without refrigeration—the culinary traditions date
to a time before households had refrigerators.

Our Osechi-ryori of this year

Hatsumode
Hatsumode
is the first trip to a shrine or temple.
Many people visit a shrine after midnight on December 31
or sometime during the day on January 1

We go to Enoshima-Shrine
to make wishes for this year.

We also buy lucky charms and
draw sacred lots to tell their fortunes of this year.











A
sandō参道 visiting road
in Japanese architecture is the road
approaching either a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple.


May the New Year bring
many good things to you !

from Natsume☆ Anzu☆ Goma


4 件のコメント:

  1. Beautiful photos, I love the Mt Fuji shot and the photos of the shrines are beautiful. And I love your little doggie, so cute.

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  2. Your country is so BEAUTIFUL
    thanks for so many pictures !!
    Happy New Year
    or in Dutch we say
    Gelukkig Nieuwjaar :-)

    Kareltje =^.^=
    Anya :-)

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  3. Everything is magnificent: photographs, ritual, spirituality ...
    Thanks for this wonderful post and Happy New Year!
    :-)

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  4. Happy New Year Anzu, Natsume and Goma~~~!!! Thanks for the coverage of the Japanese new year!! I miss Osyougatsu in Japan so much...but I feel better now! Arigatou gozaimasu!

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Thanks for coming !