|
On 15 January, the Children’s Association
collects the kadomatsu and old New
Year decorations from every doorway and puts them together with hay and straw
that they have been preparing since autumn to build a **Yahahaero. On that day, once various New Year’s festivities have
been observed, people gather in groups of twos and threes to create a large
circle around the Yahahaero. Then the
***Man of the Year lights the bonfire
and everyone one shouts “Yahahaero” in the hope that their prayers for good
health, along with the blazing flames, will reach heaven.
When I was young, the old lunar calendar
was a month later and it marked the end of winter and the worst of the cold
weather. We would offer ****azukiyu
to the *kadomatsu as we took them
down, decorate the dango tree with *****dango
and ******fugashi, and decorate the
tree branches with *******mayudama.
As 16 January is a girls’ festival, when the
lid of Hell is said to open, fertilizer is spread on top of the snow and lunch
is prepared early because it is said that if New Year’s festivities are
postponed then the work for the rest of the year will run behind schedule. So,
that is why everyone eats an early meal before the start of the Yahahaero. The kadomatsu
are bound with straw into bundles. They are placed around the inside of the
house and the grandfather of the house lights them. The flames grow stronger
and stronger and in response grandfather shouts out in a loud voice, “Senki senbako futtongete, Yahahaero,”
and Yahahaero reaches its climax. Here is my interpretation of what“Senki senbako futtongete, Yahahaero” means.
Senki refers to “colic medicine,”senbako means “in general,”futtongete means “fly away with the
flames,” Ya means “house” and haero means “to prosper.” In other
words, “May all our sickness and pain fly away with the flames, bringing
prosperity to our homes.”Since olden times, people have looked to
the skies and called out their hopes for good fortune.
*pine decorations
**bonfire made out of kadomatsu
and straw
***one’s year in the
12-year Chinese zodiac
****rice gruel with adzuki
beans
*****dumplings
******Japanese sweets
*******New Year’s decoration with cocoon-shaped cakes
|
