Annual Events Flashcards
Why is the New Year important for the Japanese?
- express gratitude to the kami gods (year god)
What does the year god do?
- determines a persons aging for the year
- harvest and happiness depends on the blessings of the year god
New Year
What is the Kadomatsu?
- gate pines
- The landmark for the Year god to visit the
house - Made of pine tree branches and bamboo.
What is the Shimekazari?
- a holy straw rope decoration
- Over the door of the house to welcome the
Year god - To expel evil spirits to purify the house
New Year
What is a Kagamimochi?
- two round piled up rice cakes
- Offering to the Year god.
- Belief ⇒ the Year god stays in kagamimochi
during the New Year. - Need to eat it to receive the blessing
- Displayed with Sorbus japonica and Japanese bitter
orange.
What is a setsubun?
bean throwing
When is setsubun held?
February 3rd (the day before
spring according to the lunar
calendar).
Why did setsubun start and why do they throw beans?
- Introduced from China in the Nara period.
- Spread to the commoners in the Edo period.
- People believed that evils came at the
changing of seasons to bring disasters and
make people sick
What do Japanese people do when setsubun?
- Throw soybeans and shout “Demons
out! Good luck in! (Oni wa soto! Fuku
wa uchi!)” to expel bad luck and evil
demons. - Held at homes, temples and shrines
When is the Doll festival? ( hina natsuri)
March 3
What do Japanese people display at the Doll festival? (hina natsuri)
Display dolls dressed in traditional
court apparel.
What do they eat and why? (Doll Festival)
Clam Soup: represents the pair
Sweet White Sake: Expel Evil Luck
Chirashizushi:
Shrimp: longevity
Lotus roots: can see the future well
Thin sliced egg: wealth
When is Childrens Day Held?
May 5
What do Japanese people display on Childrens Day?
- Helmets and amor, to wish to
protect the boy’s body. - Mushaningyo, doll dressed as
samurai warriors - Carp-shaped cloth streamers attached
to poles, koinobori. - Koinobori: comes from an ancient
Chinese story that a carp which swam
up strong rapids became a dragon. The
parents wished for the boy to become
mighty.
What do they eat and why? (childrens day)
- Kashiwamochi, rice cakes with red
bean paste inside surrounded by a leaf
of kashiwa, oak - Chimaki, steamed rice with bamboo
grass, comes from China
When is the Star Festival?
July 7
What do Japanese people do at the Star Festival?
Set up bamboo branches and decorate them with strips of paper on which their wishes are written
What is Obon?
- A Buddhist annual event to
welcome and console the souls
of one’s ancestors. - It is believed that the sprit of
the ancestors come back to visit
the house during obon.
What do they display at Obon?
- lanterns
- Make a horse with a cucumber
- cow with eggplant.
- (The horse is for their ancestors to come quickly, and
the cow is for them to go back
slowly.
What do Japanese people do at Obon?
- family members get together
- On the first day (13th), they make the
welcoming fires to greet the ancestors’
souls from the spirit world. - On the last day(15th), they make the
seeing-off fires as the ancestor’s souls
return to the spirit world. - Visit the family grave.
- bon dance
- fireworks
What do Japanese people do on New Year’s Eve?
Visit shrines and temples
Strike bells 108 times at
the night of New Year’s
Eve
What do Japanese people eat on New Year’s Eve and why?
Soba noodle, buckwheat noodle.
A symbol of a long life because they
are long and thin.
