Celebrating the New Year in Japan
Keiko Imai from Japan

I will explain a traditional Japanese New Year. Nowadays, although young people go somewhere with their friends during the long New Year holidays, many families still enjoy it with families and relatives. So, at the very end of the old year and the beginning of the new year, it is very crowed in trains, in airplanes, and on highways as we gather with families. I think I can say that our New Year celebration begins on December 31st because we enjoy talking , watching TV, and eating soba which is a Japanese noodle eaten that night. The reason why we eat sobasoba

Just at midnight, some famous temples ring 108 sounds with a temple bell. This meaning is from a traditional legend. It says that there are 108 desires regarding sense, feeling, and time in every person. In order to erase these desires, we ring 108 sounds because people used to believe that these sounds were effective for them.

On the morning of New Year's Day, we drink spiced Japanese sake to celebrate. We pour a little of this sake into traditional Japanese ceramic cups, then drink it in the order of age in the family. We drink three mouthfuls. After that, we eat traditional foods. We usually eat rice cake in Japanese soup called Zouni which has many vegetables in it. Also we eat many kinds of foods that are packaged in beautiful boxes which usually have triple layers.

Also, we go to a temple to make wishes although many people don't have religion. I think it might be a kind of custom. These wishes depend on the person, but usually we wish for health, happiness, and peace.

It is a special day for children because they can receive some money in special envelopes from their relatives for New Year's presents. They can buy something they like with this money.

We also receive greetings cards. Usually we write and send greeting cards to our friends in December, and the post office staffs strive to put these cards in our boxes on January 1st. So, even though postal workers are extremely busy during this time, families can enjoy these greeting cards thanks to them.

I think a happy New Year is for the Japanese like Christmas is for Americans. In order to enjoy it, our December is really busy. We clean our house, cook for the holiday, write greeting cards, and go shopping. Also, we enjoy celebrating Christmas as Western people do, so every end of the year, we feel really hurried.

The traditional Japanese New Year celebration is being celebrated less and gradually becoming simpler like everything is changing over the generations, but it is still dear to us. We are trying to keep initiating it into each new generation because it has always been one of the most important events for Japanese.

New Year's Day in Korea
IckChan Lee from Korea

Like many other Asian countries, Korea has two different New Year's days according to solar and lunar calendars. The more widely preferred one is the lunar New Year's day, so called So-nal. Sol-nal is a day for the whole family's reunion for refreshing everyone's common life newly at the very beginning of a year. It has many special meanings and events.

On New Year's Eve
On Sol-nal's Eve, people prepare special sieves made with straw (Bok-jori) and hang them outdoors to prevent their family from evil and all the bad luck. Often, kids are trying to keep awake all that night because they believe that if they slept, their eyebrows will turn white.

Clothes
On the morning of Sol-nal, everyone dresses in specially prepared, traditional clothes (usually new and fresh). Generally, it is decorated with five colors, and they call it Sol-bim.

Food (meal ceremony)
Early in the morning, every family gathers at their eldest male member's home to perform Cha-rye, which is ancestral memorial rites with Ttok-kuk, which is a bowl of sliced thinly white rice cake soup boiled in a thick beef broth with bright garnishes topping and green onion. Ttok-kuk has the meaning of adding age, so people believe if they have a bowl of it, they get a year older. Therefore, Koreans traditionally count their ages one more, not after their birthdays but after Sol-nal.

Jol (bowing)
After the big, very special breakfast, the younger people bow to the elder, wishing their healthy and long life, good luck, and prosperity in that whole year. This bowing is called Se-bae or Jol. To perform Jol, man brings his hands together in front of his eyes and sits on his knees touching the floor, and then bow his head on his hands touched on the floor. For woman, it is much harder so she needs assistants' help because she has to sit with her hands brought together keeping in front of her eyes, but without touching her knees on the floor, but sit down with her hip to the floor. Often, kids prepare small beautifully decorated purse, called Bok-ju-mo-ny, and keep the money, which the elders give them after the bow.

Entertainment
After the long bowing-time, every young member goes outside to play kite flying, top spinning (for boys) and Korean seesawing (for girls). Inside home, people play Yut-no-ri, a stick game playing with four wooden sticks and checkers. They eat, talk, and play all day long and enjoy their large family reunion from great grandfather to great granddaughter.

Celebrating the New Year in Vietnam
Ngoc-Ahn (Annie) Ho from Vietnam

Every country has famous holidays because they symbolize the customs of people. A famous holiday in my country is the Lunar New Year Festival. Nowadays, Vietnamese still keep this traditional holiday.

First of all, the New Year holiday happens in February. In the month before the holiday, people clean up and whitewash their houses. They buy fresh flowers and a peach blossom to put in their house. as that is the Vietnamese custom. Second, they buy cakes and fruits such as watermelons, ginger-sweetmeat, coconut-sweetmeat, plum-sweetmeat, and lotus seeds to receive their relatives.

On the days before the holiday, it's crowded in the markets because the people sell flowers and fruits and they go shopping for the New Year's holiday. If you walk along the streets near the markets, you'll see the people are going to buy peach blossoms. It's crowded and fun.

On the midnight of the holiday, people go to pagodas to pray to Buddha. Everyone walks along the streets and talks together. After that, old and young people go to the park to see Chinese dragon dances and fireworks. Next, the people congratulate each other. The next morning, the children have to wish grandparents, parents and relatives a Happy New Year. After the children wish their parents good luck, their parents will give them a red envelope that has money inside. Then the family eats cakes and watermelon. Watermelon are special fruits during the Vietnamese New Year. Then, people return to their houses.

This famous Vietnamese holiday is important because everyone still keeps the customs of their ancestors. The Vietnamese have fun and are always happy on New Year's Day. They are always saying "Happy New Year" to each other