As many of you know, the first day of the year is a big holiday in Japan.
We have so many traditions leading up to it, and on the day.
I always associate it with a special feeling of renewal, and quietly firm resolve and hope for the new year.
It was really cold in Japan. The temperature itself does not get too bad in Tokyo. But the humidity and the fact that the houses there rarely have central AC made the winters really…well, wintry.
For my weekly lessons, I would get to my teacher’s really cold. She always had another student before me, and I was to show myself in, and wait in the kitchen. There, I would make myself a tea by pouring hot water from the thermos into a tea pot, ready with tea leaves. That time of waiting, sipping tea, listening to someone else’s lesson in the distant, anticipating mine…I remember that time, fondly.
Somehow, my memories are always quiet, and especially the ones from winter. And new year’s day especially felt quiet: calm, and refreshed. I wake up and my whole body is so warm under the cover, except from the neck up, which is chilly! My sister and I spend a little time in the futon, hesitant to get up. When we finally decide to, we get our cloth as fast as we can, and run to the living room, where the stove is. We change in front of it, having fun making a fuss about how cold it is. My mom would have prepared a nice Ozoni – a soup with rice cakes. Rice cakes, like melted cheese, stretch as you bite – so it symbolizes longevity. I miss my mother’s Ozoni.
There were other dishes traditionally associated with the New Year’s Day celebration, all wit its symbolism. It has become very common to buy these dishes now. They are very time consuming to make. But my mother made them all. I was a sickly child. As a way to make me, and our family healthier, she got into organic eating and home cooked meals. She was a super mom. At one point, she was literally making EVERYTHING: from miso, to fermented soy beans, to bread to….really, everything. I admire her resolve.
I look back at these memories of the new year from my childhood, and am so thankful for them. And I resolve to fill this year with great memory-worthy moments and efforts, cherishing those sharing the moments with me.