Happy New Year, everyone!
I can't believe that 2020 is over already, though I think I am in good company when I say I've been looking forward to the end for a while. Last year was a less-than-desirable year where, starting in mid-March, everything that could possibly go wrong proceeded to do so and didn't let up in the slightest.
The big issue, of course, was the Covid19 virus, an illness that frightened the majority of the world's population and shut down any semblance of normal life. Hundreds of countries were affected by Covid19; infection rates rose steadily week after week, world economics suffered a huge blow as working from home damaged productivity levels, and lockdown-induced suicidal tendencies and depression hit an all time high. In a way, the "side effects" from Covid19 were worse than the virus itself.
But there were other issues that also did their best to ruin the year. Australia experienced the worst bushes fires it had seen in years, losing almost 13 billion hectares of forest and farmland. Political upheavals in the United States gave way to violent outbursts from activist groups such as Black Lives Matter, who single-handedly created over 500 million dollars worth of property damage. And dozens of well-loved celebrities, including Sean Connery, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, and Eddie Van Halen passed away. Every year has its ups and downs - tragedies and unrest are not new to this world, even disease and infection are common things that humans have learned to live with - but 2020 inflicted more than its fair share on us.
Everyone was ready for 2020 to end. Even if 2021 has its own unique set to challenges, I think we are all ready to face them as part of the new year because we expect different challenges with a new year. Even if we have more hardships to face, we're ready to take them on because by now I think everyone is living by the mantra, "Out with the old, in with the new."
But even if we are ready to move on, is there really a physical way to do that? We may say, "Out with the old, in with the new" but how do we go about doing that? There could be many ways that we could physically move from one year to the next, chucking out 2020's bad mojo and attempting to make something out of 2021, but I personally think the Japanese have a pretty cool way of going about this. While not every Japanese family does it, the Japanese tradition of Osouji, or deep-cleaning, is very popular.
A typical new year's Osouji might go something like this: After a late night of parties and celebration ringing in the new year, a Japanese family will wake up late on the first day of January. They will take their time starting their day and will most likely eat a leisurely breakfast of Datemaki (sweet rolled omelettes), which are a staple of Japanese new year. While the family may do some cleaning after they finish breakfast, straightening the kitchen and dining area and perhaps rounding up laundry that needs to be washed, the next order of business is getting dressed and traveling to the local shrine. While many families making frequent visits to their local shrine all year round, it is especially important that they set aside time to do so on the first day of the year. Visiting the shrine is not only important to ensure a prosperous and blessed new year, but also to purchase new protection charms and properly get rid of last year's. The family may spend anywhere from an hour to two hours visiting the shrine, doing ceremonial prayers, and purchasing new good luck charms, and may even come back later in the evening when the shrine hosts its annual new year's bonfire that is intended to honor the protection charms from the pervious year that were returned during the day. But, after finishing their morning trip, the typical Japanese family will return home. This is when the real work begins.
The family returns home and almost immediately begins the process of cleaning the entire house. Depending on the family and how closely they follow the Osouji tradition, what and how they clean might be a little different from the way their neighbors clean. But for the most part the cleaning is always the same. The goal of Osouji is really to start the year off on the right foot, so the home is newly cleaned and devoid of any dust or "bad luck" from last year, which gives the homeowners a fresh start to the new year.
The cleaning will most likely start when the homeowners place the new protection charms and prayers that they purchased at the shrine that morning, creating an atmosphere of peace. After that first step is done, everything else is cleaned in quick succession. Bedding and futons are pulled out of storage and aired out; laundry is washed, folded, and put away even if it hasn't been touched recently; and every corner of the house is dusted and swept. The kitchen is wiped down and the pantry is decluttered, shelves are combed through and re-organized, the front hallway closet it dusted and aired out, even the tatami mats are scoured. Every corner of the house is put in order and prepared for the new year; not a single inch of space is left un-dusted. In some cases, even the patio or balcony is washed. It's really quite amazing what they can accomplish is just one afternoon.
I myself took part in Osouji this year, though I left out the spiritual shinto side of it. Greatly inspired by the Japanese culture and with nothing else to do on New Year's Day, I took it upon myself to deep clean my house. I vacuumed every nook and cranny of the carpet, I ran load after load of laundry including bedding, and I took down all my Christmas decorations and packed them away neatly in new storage boxes that are now ready for next year. Dust that had hung in the top corners of the house for weeks was swept away, floors were mopped and windows were washed, and anything that was even remotely dirty was soon discovered and dealt with. I wouldn't say I went overboard in my attempt to straighten the house, but I can say that it won't need to be cleaned that thoroughly for quite a while. In the end, it was nice to have a job to do on New Year's Day and satisfying to know that, when I finished, the house was clean for the new year.
We are now two weeks into 2021, but perhaps you would like to participate in Osouji too. Maybe you need to clean some of 2020 out of your house. Well, have at it! Maybe we can make this year better than last year with just a simple cleaning.
Photo Credit: Notes of Nomads
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