Tuesday, December 28, 2010

New Year a.k.a Oshogatsu

For the Japanese, New Year a.k.a Oshogatsu is the most important holiday. Schools are closed for about 2 weeks, while businesses close down for usually about a week.

The Japanese has many traditions that they observe during oshogatsu. From the type of food, games, decorations and various symbolisms - for more info about oshogatsu read this.

A couple of activities or customs that we have adopted ourselves since coming to Japan is osoji a.k.a extensive cleaning. Though I would not call my cleaning method extensive, still I enjoy this culture of welcoming the new year with a clean state.

The second custom that we have adopted is sending out new year cards, which are postcards specially marked to be delivered on 1st January. The cards can be store bought on handmade and usually depict the zodiacal animal for the new year. I've been the unofficial card creator for our family. Here are our cards for 2009, 2010 and 2011..




Since it is school holiday now, Sofea and I spend our time doing some activities together. Today she helped me peel the carrots and potatoes while I prepared other ingredients for lunch. She also helped me to bake a cake. I also put together some activity sheets for her to do in between working on her holiday schoolwork and kumon. 

What activities do you do with your little ones at home..?? 
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9 comments:

Caca said...

Sue, happy bunny year! I have received your bunny fabric, many thanks.

Nuno Lady said...

sue and family, akemashite omedetou gozaimasu <-cannot write in hiragana at the moment :(
Hope to see many kawaii designs (esp the usagi chan) for the years coming.

Sha said...

Happy 2011 Sue..hopefully 2011 bring the happiness,great inspiration and joy to u n family

share some reservation with us? hehe

MyBotanG said...

Jess - I am bouncing around in my bunny suit :D glad the faby has arrived..

Fit - happy new year dear.. hope the new year brings you and your family loads of joy and happiness.. rainen mo douzo yoroshiku ne!!

Sha - thank you sha, all the best for the coming year to you and your family..

MamaDaniel said...

cute cards... memang culture kat sana hantar kad new year ek? cool... & menarik dgn gmbr kita sekali.. :)
nanti dah tua bleh belek2..
kita skrg nih kad raya pun payah sbb ramai dah guna e-card.. huhu.. cuma hntr kat ayahanda bonda di kampung jer... :)

MyBotanG said...

Zila - mmg sini culture mcm tu.. start Dec byk la dia jual alat-2 nak buat card sendri, cute stamps, ink, stickers.. geram aje tengok...
X sama feel ngan e-cards or sms aje kan..more personal.. i love it..

Zura said...

Happy New Year Sue! May this be another great year for you! :)

Bea said...

Happy 2011 Sue! Wow I really like the 'extensive cleaning' activity to welcome the new year. The Japanese are a neat & clean bunch. I think I need to do some cleaning too because i got so many ufo's in my closet...:)

NEEZAneedles said...

Happy New Year 2011, Sue.. Enjoy ther! :)

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