JAPAN: OMISOKA

Just like New Year’s Eve in Canada, Japan celebrates the passing of the old year and welcomes the incoming year’s potential on Dec. 31.

After bonenkai (forget-the-year parties) are thrown and appreciation gifts, known as oseibo, are given, many prepare for Omisoka (the last day of the year) with a meticulous house cleaning. The grand cleaning ensures the new year arrives free from the outgoing year’s dust and clutter. Afterwards, decorations are put up to welcome ancestral spirits and to encourage good fortune.

Since it’s unlucky to cook on the first three days of the year, many prepare traditional new year foods called osechi-ryori on the last day of the year. There are parties and gatherings and many Japanese watch a music contest called “NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen.”

Before midnight, Buddhist temples perform “joya no kane” by tolling the temple bell once for each of the 108 causes of human suffering (such as envy, irresponsibility and stubbornness). With each chime, a sin is left behind in the old year, giving the new year a fresh start.

The tradition of eating soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) on New Year’s Eve began about 800 years ago when a Buddhist temple gave soba to the poor on the last day of the year. Within a few hundred years, eating toshikoshi-soba (“year-end noodles,” recipe follows) on the day before the new year was firmly established. Soba noodles were available in many parts of Japan, but in some areas — like Kyoto — the tradition was established by eating wheat flour udon noodles.

Soba noodles’ rich symbolism includes a long and peaceful life, resiliency and wealth. Having them before midnight on Dec. 31 encourages a good start to the new year: since the noodles are easily bitten through, eating them represents cutting off the old year’s misfortune. Many traditional toshikoshi-soba toppings also have auspicious meanings: shrimp for longevity, herring for prosperity through children and kamaboko (cured and steamed fish cake) for good omens.