A Chinese Lantern and Agricultural Festival

Is Little New Year in Japan

The 15th of January is a holiday known as Little New Year or Women’s New Year. Though January 1st is a huge celebration, the ways in which it is celebrated are not so varied. Across Japan you can expect to see pretty much the same things. But this holiday has many customs that vary widely across Japan and is roughly equivalent to the Lantern Festival in China. On this day, amongst many other things, mochi and sweet red beans are eaten in porridge, there are various festivals related to agriculture, annual fortune-telling events, bird chases, dondo-yaki, and Namahage are held.

A Brief Explanation of the Timing for the Little New Year

Since ancient times Japan used the Chinese lunar calendar. Since the introduction of the western calendar in the late 1860’s many holidays changed when they were held. Instead of figuring out the dates of holidays astrologically, the Japanese took the old dates literally and applied them to the new system. The old Chinese calendar was based on the phases of the moon. In this system full moons were always on the fifteenth of the month. So, the first full moon was on the fifteenth day of the new year. In ancient times the first full moon of the new year was celebrated. But since the Japanese took the holiday dates literally, this holiday is always on the western calendar’s January 15th, whether there is a full moon or not.

Women’s New Year

Because women have to work serving their families during the main New Year Holiday, this day traditionally the men must do all the work and the women relax. Thus it is also sometimes called Women’s New Year. However, it seems that the custom of women having a rest on this day is now part of the historical record, and not in current practice.

References

In English

https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0000774/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year

In Japanese

https://kotobank.jp/word/小正月-64799

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/小正月

http://www.worldfolksong.com/calendar/shogatsu/koshogatsu.html

Photo thanks to WorldFolkSong.com

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