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:
“An ordinary man will work every day for a year at shoveling dirt to support his body, or a family of bodies; but he is an extraordinary man who will work a whole day in a year for the support of his soul. Even the priests, men of God, so called, for the most part confess that they work for the support of the body.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)