In accordance with its position as the most important holiday in Japan, the New Year celebration is chock full of traditions, most of which date back to the Heian Era (794-1185) or earlier. These fall into three main categories: house cleaning/decorating, cooking, and shrine/temple visits.
CLEANING & DECORATING
Preparing for the New Year by cleaning and decorating the house was originally begun to greet the toshigami, or god of the New Year (toshi =year, kami =god). The cleaning used to start on December 13, but most people now put it off until the end of December. No work, however, is supposed to take place on January 1-3 (especially Jan. 1) because it is believed that the ganjitsu - the first day of the New Year - will determine how the rest of the year will go. So if you are working on the ganjitsu, you can expect to toil all year long. This explains why stores are traditionally closed during this period, and is also the reason for the cooking I will mention later.
In addition to the cleaning, houses are decorated to welcome in the new year. Though traditions may vary slightly depending on region, you can expect adherence to the following fundamental theme. A sacred rope of straw with white paper strips is hung over the front door to demarcate the temporary abode of the toshigami and to ward away malevolent spirits. A kadomatsu, an arrangement of evergreen tree sprigs and bamboo, is placed beside the entranceway. Finally, a special altar for the toshigami, called a toshidana, or “year shelf,” is constructed with flat, round rice cakes, sake, persimmons and other foods.
NEW YEAR FOODS
In Texas, we used to eat blackeyed peas on New Year's Day, but here in Japan the traditional New Year's meal is called osechi ryori, and it consists of foods that are prepared in advance and will keep well for the first three days of the year, eliminating the need to cook and thereby condemn yourself to a year of laboring over a hot stove. Osechi ryori is traditionally served in ornate laquer boxes that are stacked one on the other. The foods themselves, via clever wordplay involving their names or an association with what they are (e.g. eggs for fertility), denote wishes for good health and prosperity in the year ahead. Typically eaten after a toast with toso, a disgustingly medicinal-tasting rice wine, and accompanied by zouni, a soup containing rice cakes and vegetables, the standard osechi ryori consists of stewed black soybeans, salted herring roe, dried sardines in soy sauce, a salad of carrot and white radish dressed with vinegar, cooked burdock marinated in vinegar, broiled fish paste, sweet omelet squares, broiled shrimp and sea bream, and vegetables such as carrot and lotus root simmered in broth. These used to be prepared in the home, but are now sold ready-made in most stores. Modern farming, transportation and storage methods have also lessened the impact of osechi ryori by making these once-seasonal dishes available year-round.
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