
Osechi Ryouri-Japanese New Year Dish
When I was child, my mum would take me to my grandma´s house the end of the year to spend the New Year with the relatives. We used to go around the 28th or 29th of December and always my grandma and aunty were in the kitchen cooking crazily.
This is the typical Shougatsu dish in Japan, Osechi Ryouri (おせち料理).
The origin of Osechi like most of things, is China. In Nara period (奈良時代 710-784), the Japanese Imperial Court started celebrating five most important seasonal festivals, gosekku (五節供), the ceremony was called Sechie (節会) and the food served for this ceremony was called Setiku (節供).
Common people started celebrating Gosekku (ご節句) in Edo period (江戸時代). Until Tenmei era (天明 1781-1789), people would serve this feast to the Toshi-gami (年神) and also to the neighbours. But some point during Tenmei, people made this dish just as a decoration and the food was placed into these beautiful boxes called Juubako (重箱). Then, in Meiji period, in 1873, this custom was abolished in the Imperial Court although people continued this tradition until now.
There are six basic things you have to eat ;
These six dishes are the basic. Each dish has its meaning. For example, let´s have a look at Iwai zakana, these are the common ones.
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Kuri-kinton (栗きんとん/ sweet chestnuts) : Because of its golden colour, people eat this as a symbol of fortune. |
What I mentioned is just an example, there are so many difference between the regions and the families and it´s hard to say, this is all. So I´ve just showed you some common Osechi-ryouri most of us eat during Shougatsu (正月). As the family is getting smaller these days, like my family, people buy only what they like and less likely to see Osechi in five layer of beautiful boxes.
When I was little, nothing was open in the first three days of the year. Whole family stayed at home, watching New Year special TV programs, eating Osechi-ryouri and tons of mikan orange. When the kids got bored, my mum would take us to a boring centre. It was almost our New Year tradition and usually my uncle went to play pachinko meanwhile.
Now, many supermarkets are open from the 1st of January. I feel sorry for the people who had to work. Why not just do nothing at least on Gantan (元旦/ 1st of Jan)? I see that every year, we are losing the atmosphere of that purity of the New Year. It´s a shame.
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