Tag Archives: new year

Festival – Brazil

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Brazil
Performance Date: February 15, 2007

In Brazil, the New Years celebration is enormous.  The party to honor the New Year starts before December 31 and ends after January 1.  It is a time to enjoy and commemorate life and make wishes for the New Year.

My friend from school, Isadora told me of the many things her friends and family do for the New Year.  First of all, everyone wears white, white dresses, white pants even white under clothes.  I think that the tradition of wearing white probably represents purity.  For instance, on her wedding day, the bride wears white, to represent her purity in this transition in her life.  By wearing white she can start fresh.  The same is true for the Brazilians.  It is a new year, so they get a fresh start.  They are able to forget any sins that they committed in the last year, therefore, they wear white.

Another thing that the Brazilians wear is a Bracelet called Fitinna do Bomfim.  The bracelets come in all colors, and each color represents something different.  For instance, white represents peace.  The color could represent a hope for the future.  When the Brazilian gets the bracelet they must tie three knots in it.  Then they make a wish, and leave the bracelet on.  When the bracelet falls of, weeks from then, or even months, the wish is suppose to come true.

Another way to make wishes for the future is by going to the beach.  Friends or family will go to the beach together, around the time of midnight.  They have to jump over seven waves, and with each wave they get to make a wish for their future.  Brazil is a Catholic country.  In the catholic religion people are purified by water.  Therefore, the jumping of the waves could be another way of purifying them.

In the end, the New Years celebration for the Brazilians is about purifying themselves so they can have a new start in the New Year.

Tradition – Japan

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oahu, HI
Performance Date: April 16, 2007
Primary Language: Japanese
Language: English

Japanese:

?????

English Pronunciation/Romaji:

Toshikoshi soba

Literal meaning:

Cross year soba eating

Japanese:

????

English Pronuncation/Romaji:

Shimenosoba

Literal meaning:

Conclude the meal with sob

The informant was born in Kanagawa, Japan, a bay area close to Tokyo. He grew up in Hawaii but still retains much of Japanese culture and traditions. One tradition the Japanese practice during New Year is to celebrate the incoming year with ‘soba’, buckwheat noodles. Since noodles are long, they represent longevity. Longevity of family, of marriage, of life and of happiness. Therefore the tradition is termed “Toshikoshi soba”, cross year soba eating.

The second phrase, ‘conclude the meal with soba’ is where the New Year Tradition also takes its roots. It is a phrase with a play on word soba which people associate with closing out the old year and starting a new one. In this case, using soba, or noodles also makes sense because noodles are ‘stringy’ threading together the past and the future.

If one examines this practice histo-geographically, one can see that other Asian cultures also has similar traditions. Perhaps this is a monogenesis phenemenon which originated from one single region a long time ago.

Folk Celebration/Superstition – Los Angeles, California

Nationality: Japanese-American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Cypress, CA
Performance Date: April 29, 2008
Primary Language: English

Japanese New Year Food Tradition

Dana’s family makes and eats the Japanese food, mochi (a pounded sticky rice cake that is molded into a ball like shape), on the 28th, 30th, and 31st of December to bring luck.  On the 1st of January, they have a meal of Ozonu, a vegetable soup, with mochi.  When they make the first batch of mochi for the year, they take three balls of the mochi and stack them on top of each other to make a snowman.  On top of the snowman they put a tangerine with one leaf and place the snowman in front of pictures of their ancestors.

The informant noted that mochi was not eaten on the 29th because in Japanese culture the number 29 is believed to be bad luck.  The snowman ritual is to honor their ancestors, as well as, bring good luck for the New Year.

I think it’s interesting how food oriented these New Years traditions are.  I think that in representing the ancestors with food, and eating good food on the first of January reflects how they want the rest of the year to go.  If they eat well going into the New Year, then they will be well fed for the rest of the year.  Perhaps, the offer of the tangerine to the ancestors represents a hope for growth and life in the new year, and in early days may have been offered to gain favor for good crops that year.

See also:

Kawamoto, Fumi.  “Folk beliefs among Japanese in the Los Angeles Area.”  Western Folklore.  Vol 21.  No 1.  January 1962.  Page 24.