Bell Ringing
At midnight on December 31, Buddhist temples all over Japan ring their bells a total of 108 times (じょやの鐘 joyanokane) to symbolize the 108 human sins in Buddhist belief, and to get rid of the 108 worldly desires regarding sense and feeling in every Japanese citizen. A major attraction is The Watched Night bell, in Tokyo. Japanese believe that the ringing of bells can rid off their sins during the previous year. After they are done ringing the bells, they celebrate and feast on soba noodles.
Read more about this topic: Japanese New Year
Famous quotes containing the words bell and/or ringing:
“Those feelings of envy are familiar to many of us. We see our children accomplishing things that we’ve always been afraid to try, or we give them opportunities that we never had, and we find ourselves feeling jealousy mixed with our pride, or we feel resentful when they take it all for granted.”
—Ruth Davidson Bell (20th century)
“When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was still steadily raining, and harder than before; and, in that fresh, cool atmosphere, the hylodes were peeping and the toads ringing about the lake universally, as in the spring with us. It was as if the season had revolved backward two or three months, or I had arrived at the abode of perpetual spring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)