Washing Away the Old Year, Ringing in the New
December's final celebration sweeps away 2021's bad fortunes.
This is the last piece in my travels through December holidays. It kicked off with the Haunakkua story of Judith and her latkes, went on to Bodhi Day, the anniversary of The Buddhi’s enlightenment, then to Our Lady of Guadeloupe and the role she’s played in Mexican culture and politics. The winter solstice brought Shab-e-Yalda, an Iranian celebration stemming from the worship of Mithra, the Sun God of the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism. Kwanzaa, honoring Black heritage and the culture that continues to enrich our country, commenced on Monday and ends tonight. It will be joined now by Omisoka, the Japanese observance of the New Year.
Up until yesterday, I had decided not to write about Omisoka, giving myself two fairly valid outs. The obvious is the historical fact that the week between Christmas and New Year is as dead as a door-nail (to hark by to the month’s obsession about A Christmas Carol) in the news and publishing industry: Nothing of interest occurs that warrants readers’ attention. It’s the same in many other businesses although, particular to our present times, this is not the case for medical, public emergency and safety, retail, delivery, shipping, and trucking industries. Anyway, they’re too busy and exhausted to care a bloody fig about America Eats!.
The not so obvious reason is the well-documented and universally shared sense of exhaustion and disrepair produced this year. A minor personal example would be the pain in my right jaw that’s apparently the result of a whole year of clenching it so hard I’ve strained the muscle and possibly cracked a tooth. Other parts haven’t faired any better. My brain has up and left the building.
But an assignment is an assignment and there is also Omisoka, itself, with its series of purifying rituals to sweep away the old year’s evil spirits in preparation to welcome the new year’s good will and fortune. Dating from the 8th century, Omisoka was the day the ancestral God, Toshigamisama, is believed to shepherd in renewed prosperity.
The more I learned about the holiday, the more I could not resist writing about it for it bookends all I have learned about December’s singularly power it has held over us since ancient times. One way or another, the six holidays, religious or secular, mirror a shared conviction in humanity’s essential goodness and a faith in our desire and ability to turn away from an ignoble past. Across vastly different doctrines and cultures, these December days teach a similar path leading to rebirth: forsake evil and redress wrongs, hold fast to a shared responsibility for one another, be honest and generous. Most of all, join together in espousing a dedication to the world’s well-being.
Today is very busy in Japan. Omisoka rituals begin with a thorough cleansing of the house as well as oneself with a good long bath. All debts are settled to become unfettered from unfortunate obligations. A Shinto rope, symbolizing the ancient ones’ treasury, is hung in the doorway along with an arrangement of pine and bamboo sprigs to provide the gods with a place to dwell until mid-January when it is burned and releasing the spirits from their earthly stay.
And around 11 P.M. the family gathers together for a banquet whose most important dish is toshikoshi-soba—bowls of long soba noodles which aid in a safe crossing into the new year in good grace and with the assurance of a long life. Temple bells ring from midnight eve to morning in a Buddhist practice called Joya-no-Kane. 107 times they ring, each one representing what we experience in life—the good but especially the bad. Toward dawn, the bells are heard one more time, the 108th, the one that washes away our sins, releasing us from our problems and concerns and, once more, renew the world.
I have made a pot of toshikoski-soba for my husband and put aside two bowls to take over to my quarantined sons. I thought we might ring a desk bell that my husband gave me as a joke for Christmas to dink whenever I am fortunate in receiving a new subscriber. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure we will be in bed as soon as we slurp the last noodle.
I hope you have enjoyed this month and that we will all enter 2022 with fresh hope that, whatever our beliefs, however we mark December’s promises, we will all be guided toward a more benevolent future.