I hope everyone had a happy holiday season this year!
I try to always spend Christmas with my family, but the cost to come home this year was a little out of my budget. Lucky for me, it is the same for many other foreign students here, so I was still able to celebrate in some way.
Christmas exists in Japan, but it is a bit different from what I am used to. There are plenty of familiar features like Christmas trees, lights, garland, and carols, but that's where the similarities end. Japanese Christmas is a couples' holiday. One person actually told me that they were not going to do anything for Christmas this year because they were not dating anyone. People typically go on a date to eat some KFC (seriously), and then enjoy some "Christmas cake" which is just a sponge cake with some white frosting and strawberries.
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| This is supposed to be a photo of a huge Christmas tree and the moon... |
I celebrated the holidays in the American/European fashion with lots of friends and food. With relatively short notice, I planned a potluck dinner and gift exchange. The Europeans told me that they had never used the term "potluck" before, but they enjoyed the party, and everyone brought great food.
After the potluck, some of us went to Nagoya Port to see some Christmas fireworks! It was a really nice show that had Christmas music and a cute story where a mother explained Santa-san to her child.
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| Nagoya Port Winter Fireworks. Photo by Sandi Rais |
All of that happened on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day, I had a video-chat with my family before I went to a small party where there was a Swedish mulled wine called glögg and some french fondue and foie gras. It was a great Christmas!
So, now it's almost the new year. The New Year celebration is very important to the Japanese. This is when they usually spend time with their families, visit shrines, and send New Years cards to everyone they know. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2012 was the year of the dragon, and 2013 will be the year of the snake, so there are lots of snake themed cards and gifts around. The story of the zodiac is really interesting. I found this explanation from Peter Payne on the Jbox.com blog:
"On the day of the New Year, the Gods (or Buddha, depending on which version you read) declared a race among thirteen animals to come and offer New Year's Greetings. The Ox knew he was the slowest animal, so he started out before the others. The Rat noticed this and hopped on his back, jumping off at the last minute to claim first place. The Ox came in second, followed by the fleet Tiger. The Rabbit was next, with the kind-hearted Dragon behind, who was delayed helping the Rabbit across the river. The Horse ran along then, but the Snake slithered between his legs and startled him, beating him to the finish line. The Sheep, Monkey and Rooster were working as a team to get across the river, and arrived next. Then came the Dog, delayed because he stopped to take a bath along the way, with the Boar coming in last -- he'd gotten confused and climbed the wrong mountain, forcing him to backtrack. The thirteenth animal was the Cat, who had forgotten what day the race was held and asked his friend the cunning Rat, who told him the wrong date. This is why there's no Year of the Cat, and why cats hate rats and mice today."
I still haven't figured out exactly what I will be doing at the moment 2013 arrives, but I know it will be fun. Happy New Year! よいおとしを！
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