Chinese New Year in Vancouver.

Do you know how chinese people celebrate their new year?

Chinese new year's day depends on the moon.So every year the new year is different day.

This year was the first time to celebrate new year for me that was awesome!

I went to the biggest temple on Eve and I saw many big images of Buddha which were shiny gold.

They use gold and red colors for stuff,like clothes,dragons,ornament and red pockets because they believe that thoes colors bring good luck for them.Speak of red pockets,married man or woman usually give it to singles.

February 7 was new year and we had a party.But actually they have a party every day around new year like Japan.

Have you ever seen Dragons and lions of chinese?They help scare away any bad spirits during the new year's parade.But for me lion's face was much scare...

Durning the new year they dont talk about number 4 because 4 means death and dont drop chopsticks on the floor because of bad luck!

There are few superstitions like above. So be careful!when you celebrate chinese new year with them(just kidding).

I was lucky to expose to chinese new year.Most of Asian contries except Japan celebrate new year this Feburary but I celebrated new year on Jan 1 as well in Vancouver so Im blessed!

I heard that some areas in the State also celebrate Chinese new year that means a lot of Chinese people lives all over the world as you know.

Good luck!

by Hitomi

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Japanese Tradition 2

Have you ever seen these gorgeous rice cakes?
This is one of Japanese traditional costoms to celebrate New Year.
This is round rice cakes offered to the god at New Year's time.
We call it Kagami-mochi.

We display Kagami-mochi during New Year holidays to appreciate that we had a safety year last year, and we are having a brand-new year. We offer Kagami-mochi to the god during New Year, and we eat it after New Year. We call it Kagami-Biraki. We usually have Kagami-Biraki on January 11th.
People say that when we eat Kagami-mochi on Kagami-Biraki day, we recieve power from the god.
Because eating Kagami-mochi after offering to the god means the god gives us the thankful Kagami-mochi.

We decorate Kagami-mochi as like the picture. And each decoration has meaning:

Sanpou is a table to put Kagami-mochi.
When we give something to precious person, we should put it on a table. We put Kagami-mochi on Sanpou because the god is precious for us. This is the polite way to offer Kagami-mochi to the god.

Urajiro is a plant called fern. We believe that fern is an auspicious plant because the leaves of fern grow one after another. It reminds us prosperity of our business.

Shihoubeni is a sheet of square shaped paper to put Kagami-mochi. The paper is white colour, and the edge is red colour. White paper stands for our land. And We believe red colour avoids evils. So, Shihoubeni means saving our land from disasters.

Gohei is strings of square shaped white paper and red paper. By connecting them and making them longer, it reminds us of prospering business or something. And the red parts of the Gohei also mean avoiding evils.

Daidai is a sour orange. Daidai grow on trees and they hardly fall from the trees. So, Daidai stands for prosperity of our families.

Kagami-mochi is a holy rice cakes that mediate between the god and us. If you go to Japan during New Year holidays, you will find Kagami-mochi everywhere! We display them with our appreciations and wishes.

Isn't it interesting? They are not just rice cakes. The rice cakes are saving us!

By Kurumi

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Japanese Tradition

About 2 more weeks to 2008!!

Do you have traditional customs to celebrate New Year in your country?
We have a lot of traditional customs to celebrate New Year in Japan.

I will talk about Kadomatsu which is displayed in front of house, shrine, and other buildings during the New Year holidays.
Kadomatsu is New Year's decorative pine branches.

Generally, Kadomatsu is made with 3 bamboos surrounded with pine tree needles, and tie them with straw ropes. But people add some flowers or ornaments nowadays.
Kadomatsu is a sign to invite the god of the year.
And when the god is invited, the god will live in it.

We start displaying Kadomatsu around December 10th.
But we have to be carefull NOT to display it on December 29th or 31st. Do you know why? The reasons are interesting:

We pronounce 29 as "nijuku" in Japanese. We have a word "二重苦" and we also pronounce it "nijuku". "二重苦" means "suffer twice". So, people say that 29 is inauspicious number. That's why we shouldn't display Kadomatsu which invites the god on December 29th. If we display it on December 29th, we may suffer from something.

If we display Kadomatsu on December 31st, it is very rude to the god. Because December 31st is the day before New Year. Displaying Kadomatsu on December 31st means we didn't have enough time to prepare to invite the god. We should treat the god very well. That's why we shouldn't display Kadomatsu on December 31st.

So, we have to display Kadomatsu until December 28th at the latest.
In case we can't display it until December 28th, we should display it on December 30th. We have to make sure not to display it on December 29th or 31st.

However, we can hardly find Kadomatsu nowadays. People don't want to take time or spend money for it. Some people still display it, but others don't display it any more. We have been losing our tradition in present day life in Japan. But I'm sure you will find real Kadomatsu at shrines during New Year holiday in Japan.

If you have a chance to visit Japan during New Year holiday, please look for this Japanese tradition!

By Kurumi

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