Christmas is a very important time for Christians and New Year is the celebration that the Japanese people love the most. At Shinmeizan, these occasions provide the opportunity to live out our Christian in dialogue of life with those we encounter.

    The Nativity scene is set up in the hondo, the prayer room. Both Christian and non-Christian visitors stop to see it, to pray and often ask questions about its meaning. We also make Christmas cakes and on Christmas Eve we bring them to some Buddhist families of our village, who expect them eagerly, and to some close friends, like the Seimeizan-Schweitzer Temple, and the Lutheran community of Tamana.

    These year most members of the Shinmeizan attended Christmas evening mass in Tamana’s parish Church, while Father Rocco celebrated it in the Church of Yamaga. This is a precious opportunity to share the great joy of the birth of Jesus the saviour of the world, with the local Christian community.

    For New Year, people from the village of Heboura kindly come to Shinmeizan to set up the kadomatsu, which is a traditional New Year decoration made of bamboo, pine branches and mistletoe. It is placed at the entrance of the sando (the path leading to the hondo). Kagamimochi (New Year traditional rice cakes) are placed in front of the Nativity scene as a sign of devotion and respect.

New Year 2017. kadomatsu at the entrance of of the sando

    On New Year’s Day (ganjitsu) we wake up early to see the first dawn of the year and the rising sun. For the Japanese this is a religious act of worship. At Shinmeizan after the Eucharist, which is celebrated in the hondo, we go outside to watch the sun rise from behind the Aso volcano. We welcome the rising sun with Psalm 19, the reading of John’s gospel (1:1-4) and the Canticle of Zechariah.

    Again this year a group of friends joined us for this simple but moving rite of the beginning of the year. After that we shared a cup of hot zenzai, the traditional new-year drink, made with sweet beans and mochi.

    The first days of the year in Japan are dedicated to hatsumode, the custom of visiting a temple in order to place the new year under the divine protection. It is also the time to visit the families of relatives, friends, and those with whom one is linked by gratitude. Again this year about thirty friends visited Shinmeizan during the first days of the year. They were welcomed in the hondo with the rite of blessing for the beginning of the new year, and then in the dining room for a cup of tea and the traditional zenzai.