Hello everybody!!
How you doing on New Year's Eve.
We are very busy here, cuz a lot of customers staying.
And today we introduce to you Miyajima Chinkasai.
It's fire prevention festival, take place on the last day of the year in front of Itsukushima shrine.
After the festival, the embers from the troches are offered to family alters as a good luck charm to prevent fire and to welcome the New Year.
And In Japan, we call the last day of the year "Oh-misoka" and typically follow a tradition to eat soba (=Japanese noodle made from buckwheat) and listen to the striking bell at the temple to see the old year out. Each custom is called "Toshikoshi soba" and "Joya no kane", respectively. Here's a short meaning of each events:
Toshikoshi-soba
Even people who do not eat soba( = Japanese noodle) often are tempted to eat soba during the last days of the year, based on our unique customary thoughts from the ancient times that we cannot finish up the old year without eating soba. There are some reasons why we choose soba and not any other kind of food:
(1)It is thought that soba is a bringer of good luck, family fortunes, and longevity because soba is physically long.
(2) On the contrary, since soba is easy to bite, it is also considered to forget and sever any carryover of hardship and disaster that may have happened during the year.
(3)The third opinion is believed that soba collects fortunes; During the Edo period , a gold and silver craftsmen used balls made of kneaded buckwheat (=soba) to collect splattered gold and silver pieces in the working area, and burned the ball over hibachi (= Japanese heating appliance using charcoal as fuel) to catch residue gold and silver pieces.
While soba maybe a Japanese style fast-food, it seems to have an additional value during the new year period.
We hope you will have a happy new year.
Backpackers Miyajima staff
I went to Hatsukaichi radio station, and I was invited there talking about my hostel for 1 hour.
