Holiday Hiatus: So this is the New Year
We returned from Kyoto just in time for some New Year's festivities, which resulted in one of the most memorable New Year's that I have ever had.
Alysha and I went to spend the traditional Japanese New Year time at a shrine with Rieko, Viki, and Viki's younger sister. The tradition is to travel to the temple to ring in the New Year. We lined up at the base of the stairs below before midnight, waiting to get into the temple grounds.
The New Year arrived while we were in line, and we said "Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu" (Happy New Year) to our fellow cue-mates. The line passed by a fire, where people burn the wishes and good luck charms of the past year in the fire, ready to pick up new charms and fortunes for the coming year.
After throwing change into the collection pot at the entrance to the temple, bowing, and clapping, you pull on the bell's rope, subsequently ringing in the New Year. As you bow, the preist blesses you by shaking his... pom-pom?
Following this, you pay 100 yen for a fortune for the coming year. Don't worry - both the Kambeyanda children drew good fortunes.
Musicians on the temple grounds played the drums and flute (an interesting musical combination), while dancers shook their ribboned staffs. Sake and anko (red bean) soup were provided and were delicious. Some people said the bean soup was too sweet, but some people have bad taste.
Alysha and I went to spend the traditional Japanese New Year time at a shrine with Rieko, Viki, and Viki's younger sister. The tradition is to travel to the temple to ring in the New Year. We lined up at the base of the stairs below before midnight, waiting to get into the temple grounds.
The New Year arrived while we were in line, and we said "Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu" (Happy New Year) to our fellow cue-mates. The line passed by a fire, where people burn the wishes and good luck charms of the past year in the fire, ready to pick up new charms and fortunes for the coming year.
After throwing change into the collection pot at the entrance to the temple, bowing, and clapping, you pull on the bell's rope, subsequently ringing in the New Year. As you bow, the preist blesses you by shaking his... pom-pom?
Following this, you pay 100 yen for a fortune for the coming year. Don't worry - both the Kambeyanda children drew good fortunes.
Musicians on the temple grounds played the drums and flute (an interesting musical combination), while dancers shook their ribboned staffs. Sake and anko (red bean) soup were provided and were delicious. Some people said the bean soup was too sweet, but some people have bad taste.
Making anko soup.
A day or so after Rieko helped us translate our fortunes, we traveled back to the shrine to tie up our fortunes, so that they would come true! Please note, there is some contradiction over this: some say that you should tie bad wishes so that they will not come true, and others say that you tie the good wishes so that they do come true. We're banking on the latter.
posted by Rohan at 02:59
1 Comments:
Oh! It's such a relief that both the Kambeyanda children drew good fortunes.
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