The old year passes and the new year comes again
This year again a little surprised how far we have come,
and this year again pray for this another new year
to be full of blessings for everyone

From ancient times, Japanese people have been enjoying the seasonal beauty and following the rythm of nature through a cup of tea. This little series of Toridori's seasonal letter was born to bring — a little spoonful of — seasonal beauty and nature's rythm into our life.

Again this year, the moment has come. The old year passes and the new year begins. This is the normal 365-day cycle of our calendar, but every time I feel surprised how fast the time has passed — feeling that the previous new year day is so far away as if it was in a distant past — and how far I have come so far. Maybe some of you might also feel the same.

Every country/culture zone has its own tradition on how to prepare for and spend time in the New Year, and my new year tradition is a mixture of Japanese and Belgian ones. That is, after Christmas dinner at my partner's family (Belgian), prepare Japanese traditional New Year's dishes called oséchi (Japanese) for 3 days, cook Japanese soba (buckwheat) noodle at New Year's Eve for dinner (Japanese) and see fireworks from our balcony (Belgian), eat Japanese traditional New Year's dishes for breakfast and lunch (Japanese) and join the New Year's family gathering at my partner's parents (Belgian). In Japan, the New Year starts with the sounds of the bells at the Budhist temples ("Joya-no-kané", 除夜の鐘), so when I had the first New Year in Belgium back in 2018, I was intrigued that it's fireworks in Belgium. 

The most well-known New Year's tradition of Japan is parhaps the first temple/shrine visit of the year ("Hatsumoudé", 初詣). In my childhood my family had a tradition to visit one temple with my grandparents of my father's side and another with my mother's side. At Hatsumoudé we do our first preyers of the year to thank for gods that we can start the new year again and to make our wishes for the coming year. Returning old lucky charms and buying new lucky charms, as well as drawing an oracle are also important during this event. Without all of this, we don't feel that our New Year has started.

How about you, what is your New Year's tradition?

Erina