all about the end of the year around me 2

This is a continuation of the post of 15 December.

• Is New Year bigger? Which is your biggest celebration of the year?

The reason why Christmas is merrily celebrated in Japan, in my opinion, is because it plays a prelude to the New Year🎌 The children's winter holidays have already started by then and it seems to be the liveliest time of the year. I'm in a festive mood from the end of the month until the beginning of the year, partly because the former Emperor's birthday is on the 23rd. The Emperor's Birthday is a public holiday. It has now been moved to February.

I suppose the biggest festival of all is the New Year. Then there's お盆 Obon in mid-August (or July in some areas), when the spirits of our ancestors return from the afterlife. These are the two times of the year when people who work in Japan get a little longer holiday.

The sense of time, which usually changes in the New Year, seems to have continued uninterrupted in 2020 and 2021. This may have something to do with the fact that the Olympic Games have been postponed for a year. In the past, when things were not as convenient as they are now, we used to respect festivals that were rooted in the Japanese culture, but that was a long time ago. But we can't go back in time, and even if we could, it wouldn't make any sense. So we should at least try not to become No-face people lost a sense of belonging.