Japanese New Year Traditions Cleaning

During this time of the year you ll find broken or old furniture left for garbage pickup outside people s homes huge bags of old bottles out for recycling and.

Japanese new year traditions cleaning. Read on to read all about japanese new year traditions. So why clean towards the end of the year. Nengaj ō 年賀状.

In japan o souji is literally formed by 掃除 そうじ souji to clean and 大 おお o big so o souji can be literally translated as a big cleaning and it is done by the end of the year. Japanese believe that new year must be kicked off with a clean state to allow new energy to enter the house. New year s decorations must go up between 13th and 28th december.

Discover both modern and traditional japanese new year s traditions. This is the perfect time to clean the light fixtures furniture and heavy appliances usually untouched during regular house cleanings. A few days before the year ends major house cleaning happens in every household.

It s a chance for families to not only reflect on the past year and their dreams for the future but also to spend time together catch up cook eat and play games. New year s has always been an important holiday in japan. This type of cleaning is known in the u s has spring cleaning while in japan it is an end of the year tradition.

The japanese believe in the importance of welcoming the new year with a clean slate. The countdown to new year does not involve fireworks in japan but instead it is solemnly celebrated in traditional ways. Once the house is nice and clean ornaments and decorations are set up.

Back in the edo period when most japanese houses had hearths and fire stoves the house would rather get dirty by the end of the year. It is also the time for gift giving. As a result japanese people usually partake in something called oosouji or big cleaning a lot of times every inch of the household is cleaned including places that remain untouched other times of the year.