|
Kadomatsu
are traditional Japanese decorations made for the Japanese New Year, New Year. They are a type of ''yorishiro'', or objects intended to welcome ancestral spirits or ''kami'' of the harvest. ''Kadomatsu'' are usually placed in pairs in front of homes and buildings. Construction and placement Historically, ''kadomatsu'' was often made with pine wood, but these days bamboo is more common. The central portion of the ''kadomatsu'' is formed from three large bamboos, though plastic ''kadomatsu'' are available. After binding all the elements of the ''kadomatsu'', it is bound with a straw mat and newly woven straw rope. ''Kadomatsu'' are placed in pairs on either side of the gate, representing male and female. Usage In modern times, ''kadomatsu'' are placed after Christmas until January 7 (or January 15 during the Edo period) and are considered temporary housing (''shintai'') for ''kami''. Designs for ''kadomatsu'' vary depending on region but are typically made of pine, bamboo, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
門松
are traditional Japanese decorations made for the New Year. They are a type of ''yorishiro'', or objects intended to welcome ancestral spirits or ''kami'' of the harvest. ''Kadomatsu'' are usually placed in pairs in front of homes and buildings. Construction and placement Historically, ''kadomatsu'' was often made with pine wood, but these days bamboo is more common. The central portion of the ''kadomatsu'' is formed from three large bamboos, though plastic ''kadomatsu'' are available. After binding all the elements of the ''kadomatsu'', it is bound with a straw mat and newly woven straw rope. ''Kadomatsu'' are placed in pairs on either side of the gate, representing male and female. Usage In modern times, ''kadomatsu'' are placed after Christmas until January 7 (or January 15 during the Edo period) and are considered temporary housing (''shintai'') for ''kami''. Designs for ''kadomatsu'' vary depending on region but are typically made of pine, bamboo, and sometimes ume t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Year In Japan
The is an annual festival that takes place in Japan. Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1 of each year, . Prior to 1872, traditional events of the Japanese New Year were celebrated on the first day of the year on the modern Tenpō calendar, the last official lunisolar calendar. History Prior to the Meiji period, the date of the Japanese New Year had been based on Japanese versions of lunisolar calendar (the last of which was the Tenpō calendar) and, prior to Jōkyō calendar, the Chinese version. However, in 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar and the first day of January became the official and cultural New Year's Day in Japan. Traditional food The Japanese eat a selection of dishes during the New Year celebration called , typically shortened to ''osechi.'' Many of these dishes are sweet, sour, or dried, so they can be kept without refrigeration: the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Friends Of Winter
The Three Friends of Winter is an art motif that comprises the pine, bamboo, and plum. The Chinese celebrated the pine (松), bamboo (竹) and Chinese flowering plum (梅) together, for they observed that unlike many other plants these plants do not wither as the cold days deepen into the winter season. Known by the Chinese as the ''Three Friends of Winter'', they later entered the conventions of Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese culture. Together they symbolize steadfastness, perseverance, and resilience. They are highly regarded in Confucianism as representing its scholar-gentleman ideal. History The Three Friends of Winter are common in works of art from Chinese culture and those cultures influenced by it. The three are first recorded as appearing together in a ninth-century poem by the poet Zhu Qingyu () of the Tang dynasty. Artists such as Zhao Mengjian (, c. 1199–1264) of the Southern Song dynasty and other contemporaries later made this grouping popular in paint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kami
are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and/or the spirits of venerated dead people. Many ''kami'' are considered the ancient ancestors of entire Japanese clans, clans (some ancestors became ''kami'' upon their death if they were able to embody the values and virtues of ''kami'' in life). Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor of Japan, Emperor could be or became ''kami''. In Shinto, ''kami'' are not separate from nature, but are of nature, possessing positive and negative, and good and evil characteristics. They are manifestations of , the interconnecting energy of the universe, and are considered exemplary of what humanity should strive towards. ''Kami'' are believed to be "hidden" from this world, and in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Year Tree
New Year's trees are decorated trees similar to Christmas trees that are displayed to specifically celebrate the New Year. They should not be confused with the practice of leaving up a Christmas tree until after New Year's Day (traditionally until the Epiphany (holiday), Epiphany on 6 January). New Year's trees are common in various cultures and nations, chiefly the former Soviet Union, former Yugoslavia, Albania, Turkey, China and Vietnam. Russian and Turkish traditions Russian and Turkish culture, Turkish New Year's trees are of the same varieties as those used for Christmas trees, although a spruce tree is the most usual type. The decorations are the same as for Christmas trees; however the Russian style New Year's tree is completely secular and its decorations include no religious symbols. While Russian and Turkish North Americans purchasing a tree after Christmas when prices have plummeted might enjoy notable savings, most do not wait beyond Christmas to buy their trees. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corn Dolly
Corn dollies or corn mothers are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanisation. Scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries theorized that before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn (in American English, "corn" would be "grain") lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless. James Frazer devotes chapters in ''The Golden Bough'' to "Corn-Mother and Corn-Maiden in Northern Europe" (chs. 45–48) and adduces European folkloric examples collected in great abundance by the folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt. Among the customs attached to the last sheaf of the harvest were hollow shapes fashioned from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crops. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in this home until the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow of the new season. Background James George Frazer discusses the Corn-mother and the Corn-maiden in Norther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas Tree
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was developed in Central Europe, particularly Germany and Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia), where Protestantism, Protestant Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. The tree was traditionally decorated with "roses made of colored paper, tinsel, apples, wafers, and sweetmeats, confectionery". Moravian Church, Moravian Christians began to illuminate Christmas trees with candles, which were often replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Today, there is a wide variety of Christmas ornament, traditional and modern ornaments, such as garlands, Christmas ornament, baubles, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star might be tree-topper, placed at the top of the tree to represent the Angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansai Region
The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolitan region of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto ( Keihanshin region) is the second-most populated in Japan after the Greater Tokyo Area. Name The terms , , and have their roots during the Asuka period. When the old provinces of Japan were established, several provinces in the area around the then-capital Yamato Province were collectively named Kinai and Kinki, both roughly meaning "the neighbourhood of the capital". Kansai (literally ''west of the tollgate'') in its original usage refers to the land west of the Osaka Tollgate (), the border between Yamashiro Province and Ōmi Province (present-day Kyoto and Shiga prefectures).Entry for . Kōjien, fifth edition, 1998, During the Kamakura period, this border was redefined to include Ōmi a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Articles Containing Video Clips
Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing) An article or piece is a written work published in a Publishing, print or electronic media, electronic medium, for the propagation of news, research results, academic analysis or debate. News A news article discusses current or recent news of e ..., a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article(s) may also refer to: Government and law * Elements of treaties of the European Union * Articles of association, the regulations governing a company, used in India, the UK and other countries; called articles of incorporation in the US * Articles of clerkship, the contract accepted to become an articled clerk * Articles of Confederation, the predecessor to the current United States Constitution * Article of impeachment, a formal document and charge used for impeachment in the United States * Article of ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trees In Mythology
Trees are significant in many of the world's mythologies, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Human beings, observing the growth and death of trees, and the annual death and revival of their foliage, have often seen them as powerful symbols of growth, death and rebirth. Evergreen trees, which largely stay green throughout these cycles, are sometimes considered symbols of the eternal, immortality or fertility. The image of the Tree of life or world tree occurs in many mythologies. Examples include the banyan and the sacred fig (''Ficus religiosa'') in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil of Judaism and Christianity. In folk religion and folklore, trees are often said to be the homes of tree spirits. Germanic mythology as well as Celtic polytheism both appear to have involved cultic practice in sacred groves, especially grove of oak. The term ''druid'' itself possibly derives from the Celtic word for oak. The Eg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
