大晦日 - Omisoka (New Year's Eve)

Omisoka means the last day of the year. This day falls on December 31st in Japan. Most Japanese families finish up all their preparations for the New Year by Omisoka including a very thorough end of the year housecleaning and making pounded rice-cake. Then, families gather together to happily greet the New Year. On New Year’s Eve, Buddhist priests at temples ring out the old year and ring in the New Year. This is called joya-no-kane, the bell ringing out the old year, which is rung 108 times to purify men’s earthly desires and relieve human suffering. There are 108 of these desires. On New Year’s Eve the entire family, including the children, stay up until midnight to eat buckwheat noodles and toast the New Year at the stroke of the bell ringing in the New Year. People eat buckwheat noodles which are supposed to symbolize a long and frugal life due to their slender shape and wish each other good health throughout the New Year. Many people visit shrines late at night to greet the New Year.

大晦日は一年の最後の日を意味する言葉で、12月31日がこの日に当たります。日本の多くの家庭では、大掃除、餅つきなどの新年を迎える準備は大晦日までに済まし、家族全員がそろって団らんしながら新年を迎えます。大晦日の夜、寺院では108の煩悩を清めることによって人間の苦悩が取り除かれるという教えに基づき、除夜の鐘を108回つきます。家庭ではこの日の夜は小さな子供も遅くまで起きていることが許され、家族そろって年越しそばを食べ、除夜の鐘を聞きながら新年を迎え、祝杯をあげます。細長いそばは長寿の象徴とされており、新しい年の無病息災を願ってこれを食べます。この日の夜更けから初詣のために神社に出かける人もたくさんいます。