By Sr. Margaret Lacson, MM

Akemashite Omefeto Gonzaimasu. [Congratulations, the New Year has opened.] You hear this phrase any where you go in Japan during the first days of the year.

The beginning of the New Year marks the most important holiday here in Japan. The Japanese prepare their homes for this event. They decorate their house with special New Year decorations hanging in their cars.

The men pound the rice to make rice flour for the omochi (rice cake). The women cook special dishes for this special occasion. Families make a special effort to come together to celebrate New Year. Thus, trains and buses and highways are always crowded at this time of the year.

But the most significant activity is the temple or shrine visitations. Days nearing New Year, people start to flock to the temples and shrines to pray for good fortune and good heath through the year. The temple bells ring through midnight for the 108 sins and vices of the human being.

In Kyoto, the most popular place to go is the Chion-in Temple where sutra-chanting monks surrounds a 450 year old 70 ton bell, [so big that it takes 14 monks to swing the lever that rings the bell]. From Chion-in, most people then walk to nearby Yasaka Shrine where they light a cord from the shrine’s sacred fire. This smoldering cord is then taken home to light in the first day of the year. Eating soup made over this fire is said to ensure good health. This midnight trek to the temples and shrines with temple bells resonating in the quite night indeed makes New Year’s Eve a very solemn celebration.

Over the three or four days, hatsu-mode is important for the Japanese people, it is the first visit to the shrine or temple to pray. Usually about 85 million of the 120 million people do the hatsu-mode.

In this celebration of the New Year, one sees the religiosity and faith of the Japanese People, their trust in a higher being to listen and respond to their prayers.