Post by Hatsuharu Souma on Jul 12, 2005 20:51:16 GMT -5
Laughing Your Way to Heaven (Waraiko)
It may seem comical to the outsider, but for residents of Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, the waraiko is a serious affair. On the first Sunday of December, the chief priest of a local Shinto shrine leads 21 parishioners in an ancient ceremony to offer one's heartiest laughter to the gods.
The waraiko is a "laughing ritual" that goes back some 800 years in a district of Hofu - located at the western tip of Japan's main island - that was first settled during the Kamakura period (1185-1333). Historians think the ritual was initiated by farmers there as a way of forgetting about their hardships for a while. The privilege of offering one's laughter to the deities is now inherited, and it is carefully guarded by the 21 lucky households.
At around 11 a.m., the participants gather at the house of the ritual leader - a post that rotates among the families from one year to the next - and sit in a circle in a tatami-mat room with a Shinto altar. In front of the altar are rice, vegetables, fish, and other offerings. The seating order is fixed. Food and drinks are brought out, and participants enjoy a full meal, mingling not just among themselves but supposedly also with the gods who are being honored.
Around 1 p.m., just when the fun is reaching its peak, the priest calls the party to order and announces the start of a very unique ritual.
Pairs of participants seated opposite one another are called upon, one at a time, to offer three guffaws, the first as a sign of gratitude for that year's harvest, the second to pray for a good harvest the following year, and the third to laugh all one's troubles away.
There is a judge who bangs on a metal washtub once if the chortling is too timid or insincere or if the pair of "chucklers" are out of sync. They keep on laughing until they can do so in perfect unison, laughing from the bottom of their hearts. When the judge is satisfied, he bangs on the tub repeatedly, signaling that the pair has successfully passed. The same tub has been in use for close to 50 years, so it is heavily dented and even has some holes in it.
Psychologists say laughing can help wipe away your blues. Even if it's forced at first, continuous laughter can help release pent-up tension, and soon you'll find yourself laughing at the top of your lungs. There are a number of other festivals in Japan besides waraiko where laughter plays a major role. These traditional ceremonies may have been early attempts to take advantage of the therapeutic effects of laughter.
Final exams and winter break
The second term of the school year, which includes such big events as field day and the school festival, comes to an end in December. In most Japanese middle schools, finals begin toward the end of November and are usually held over three days, covering nine subjects: English, math, Japanese, science, social studies, physical education, home economics, music, and art.
After final exams are through, parents are called to the school for three-way conferences between the student, teacher, and parent. The subjects discussed at these meetings are the students' grades for the second term, how they can be improved in the third (final) term, the school events coming up, and the student's involvement in clubs and other extracurricular activities.
When these series of interviews end, a ceremony is held to close out the second term, and winter vacation starts. The break in winter is shorter than that in the summer, usually lasting for about two weeks from around December 25 (though schools in cold, snowy northern regions get a longer break). It's not quite long enough to hold school-sponsored events, and so the school closes down completely. Kids don't get any homework, except maybe to turn in a special piece of New Year calligraphy.
Such works, called kakizome, are traditionally written at the beginning of the new year, usually on January 2, on long strips of paper measuring 30 centimeters (12 inches) wide. The subjects tend to be auspicious words befitting the New Year or the writer's goals for the year ahead.
The kakizome works are often displayed in the classroom or the hallway, and the most outstanding works receive commendations from the school.
Hagoita market
One traditional New Year pastime in Japan is hanetsuki, a badminton-like game played by girls with wooden paddles and a shuttlethingy. In olden times, the person who missed had a mark drawn on her face with black ink, and they played until one player's face was completely smeared in ink.
Hagoita is the wooden paddle used in this game, and it's usually decorated with beautiful drawings. Even though kids don't play this game much any more, the paddle itself is valued as an ornament that is believed to bring good luck.
A hagoita market is held from December 17 to 19 every year on the grounds of the temple Senso-ji in Asakusa, Tokyo. It's a spectacular event attracting some 300,000 people, who come to buy paddles from the approximately 50 stalls selling nothing but hagoita. The holding of this market is one of the telling signs that the end of the year is near at hand.
Many are decorated with traditional figures.
The market began around 350 years ago duing the Edo period (1603-1868). The drawings are usually created with washi (Japanese hand-molded paper) or cloth, and then pasted onto the paddle so they protrude like a relief. Traditional hagoita commonly feature portraits of famous kabuki actors and depictions of a ship loaded with treasures. Recently, though, there have been portraits of movie and television stars and famous athletes.
Writing Nengajo
The Japanese may not send very many Christmas or birthday cards, but they do send a lot of special postcards called nengajo that are delivered on New Year's Day.
A typical Nengajo
New Year's is a very special holiday in Japan - it's probably the biggest item on the calendar of annual events. There used to be a custom of calling on relatives, neighbors, and those who bestowed kindness over the preceding year during the first few days of the new year. But after the post office began issuing postcards in the Meiji period (1868-1912), people began sending these cards instead as a form of greeting.
In response, the post office started a service whereby it delivered these greeting cards on January 1 if they were posted by a certain date in December. Postcards carrying lottery numbers went on sale in 1949, with the holders of winning numbers receiving prizes. The popularity of nengajo increased immensely as a result, and the practice of sending postcards took root. Today the post office prints up more than 4 billion prize-carrying New Year's cards every year.
In addition to inscribing standard phrases like Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu (Happy New Year) on these cards, people often jot down what they've been up to lately and their new year resolutions. They also decorate the cards with color markers, oil or acrylic paint, black ink, montages of colored paper, paper cutouts, or woodblock prints. Recently people have also been creating original cards with their personal computers and word processors.
Kadomatsu like this are placed in front of entrances to homes.
Popular graphic elements include such New Year motifs as kadomatsu (decorations made of pine branches), kites, plum flowers, and the sun rising against Mount Fuji on New Year's Day. Even more popular, though, are illustrations of the animal for the coming year under the Chinese zodiac, which moves in a 12-year cycle. The Chinese zodiac isn't referred to all that often in Japan anymore, but it's still a popular item on New Year's cards.
Mochi-tsuki
Mochi-tsuki, or pounding rice to make mochi (rice cakes), is an important traditional event in preparation for the New Year. It's usually performed at the end of the year, from around December 25 to 28.
Making mochi is simple. A special type of sticky rice that's been soaked in water overnight and steamed is placed in an usu, a large bowl made of wood or stone. A heavy, hammer-like kine is used to pound the rice into paste. The kine is heavy, so when a family makes mochi together, the father usually does the pounding, with the mother regularly shifting the rice in the usu (with hands moistened to prevent the mochi from sticking) to ensure evenness. The mother then shapes the pounded rice into small portions with the help of the children.
After the mochi are completed, some are set aside as divine offerings. The decorative kagami mochi - two flat, round mochi placed one on top of the other, with the lower mochi being slightly larger - represents the seat of the New Year deities. Even at room temperature, mochi will keep for a fairly long time.
People start eating the homemade mochi with the dawning of the new year. They're usually cooked over a flame and flavored with soy sauce or are placed in a soup called zoni. The Japanese have traditionally believed that all material objects are imbued with spirits, and so by partaking of mochi - thought to symbolize the spirit of rice - they hoped themselves to gain the strength of these rice divinities.
Modernization has seriously weakened the mochi-tsuki tradition, however. Although some farming households still pound their own mochi, most urban residents usually order mochi from specialty shops or buy machine-made, plastic-wrapped rice cakes from the supermarket.
The monsters of the Oga Peninsula
Farming families on the Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture are visited on New Year' Eve and early New Year's Day by ferocious demons named namahage that strike terror into the hearts of young children.
Namahage are imaginary creatures, and the visitors are really village residents donning blue and red masks and wearing coats made from dried seaweed and straw. The namahage with blue masks are male demons, while the red masks denote female demons. The male demons hold aloft sacred staffs with strips of paper attached, while the female demons bang on wooden buckets with kitchen knives. They usually storm into people's houses yelling "Woah! Woah!" at the top their lungs, and they frighten young children by demanding to know whether there aren't any crybabies or lazy kids around.
A sight like this makes kids behave!
Children are startled by the sudden appearance of screaming "monsters," and either cling to their parents in tears or run to hide behind large objects. Parents reassure the ogres that no such children live there and appease them by serving food and drinks. The demons who've been properly entertained offer blessings before leaving, praying for the safety and well-being of the family, bountiful harvests, and rich hauls of fish.
Namahage is a tradition that is observed throughout the peninsula that juts out into the Sea of Japan. The ritual is carried out to cleanse the soul and offer prayers that the year to come will be a good one. The word namahage is believed to come from namomi (reddening of the skin from exposure to fire) and hagu (to peel off), and it refers to the peeling of shins that have turned red from people lazily sitting in front of the hearth too long.
The end of namahage is a signal that the New Year is about to dawn on the Oga Peninsula.
Ushering in the New Year
The final day of the year, December 31, is called omisoka in Japan. In order to usher in the new year feeling fresh, families have to finish up cleaning their house and making preparations for the New Year holidays by omisoka. Kids are in the middle of winter break, and they usually help out with the chores.
A lot of college students and working people who moved to big cities to attend school or take on a job return to their hometowns to spend New Year's with their families, friends, and relatives. On New Year's Eve, many families gather around the TV set to watch special omisoka programs and eat toshi-koshi ("year-crossing") buckwheat noodles in the hope that one's life will be stretched out as long as these noodles. New Year's Eve is the one day of the year when kids don't get scolded for staying up late.
As midnight approaches, Buddhist temples around the country begin ringing out the old year (literally!), sounding the temple bell 108 times. This practice is based on a belief that humans have 108 earthly passions they have to overcome in order to attain enlightenment, and each ring is thought to drive away one such passion. People wait until the reverberations have completely died down from each bell toll before making the next strike, and so it takes about an hour to complete the 108 strokes.
The tolling of the bell at some of the nation's most famous temples is broadcast live on television and radio. Many people welcome the new year by listening to the calming sounds of these bells.
The breaking of dawn the next morning is much more than just the beginning of a new day. Oshogatsu (the first three days of the year) is Japan's biggest holiday, and people flock to temples and shrines to pray for a healthy and prosperous year - regardless of their religious affiliation. This visit is called hatsu-mode, which used to mean going to a Shinto shrine before dawn and paying respects to one's guardian deities as dawn broke. Today, though, a visit made by January 7 is considered part of hatsu-mode.