New Year's custom in Japan
I first posted this article as a comment on Guoping’s Blog but I want everyone to read it so, I’m re-posting it here.
Let me introduce a Japanese New Year’s custom to you. In Japan, there are quite a few of these customs; for example, osechi ryouri, kagamimochi, hatsumode, motituki, and shimenawa. Do you know these customs?
Especially, I examined osechi ryori. The tradition started in the Heian period. Osechi are easily recognizable by their special boxes called jubako, which resemble bento boxes. Like bento boxes, jubako are often kept stacked before and after use.
Osechi have black soybeans, herring roe, tazukuri dried sardines cooked in soy sauce, kombu, sweet roasted chestnuts, red sea-bream, Japanese bitter orange, taro, kamaboko, kurikinton, mashed sweet potato with chestnut, rolled eggs and so on.
The dishes that make up osechi each have a special meaning celebrating the New Year. Let me give some examples. Black soybeans mean that everyone will keep their good health in the new year. Herring roe means “child”: it symbolizes a wish to be gifted with children in the new year. Taro have almost the same meaning because taro have many children. Kombu is associated with the Japanese word yorokobu, meaning “joy,” and red sea-bream, tai is associated with the Japanese word medetai, meaning an auspicious event. kamaboko, which is slices of red and white fish cakes alternated in rows or arranged in a pattern. The color and shape are reminiscent of the rising sun, and have a celebratory, festive meaning.
I don’t know how each food got to have each meaning, but I think it is interesting.
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