There is also an associated festival of Little New Year (小正月, koshōgatsu?), traditionally celebrating the first full moon of the new year, on the 15th day of the first lunar month (approximately mid-February). This is now sometimes celebrated on January 15th, in various respects. The main events of Koshōgatsu are rites and practices praying for a bountiful harvest, and 小豆粥 is traditionally eaten in the morning. Further, New Year decorations are taken down around this date, and some temples hold events, such as at Tōrin-in; see also festivals at List of Important Intangible Folk Cultural Properties.
This corresponds to the Chinese Lantern Festival.
Read more about this topic: Japanese New Year
Famous quotes containing the word year:
“For myself I found that the occupation of a day-laborer was the most independent of any, especially as it required only thirty or forty days in a year to support one. The laborer’s day ends with the going down of the sun, and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit, independent of his labor; but his employer, who speculates from month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the other.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)