MARY or AKEMASHITE, OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU

Akemashite, Omedetou Gozaimasu!... this is how Japanese greet one another in the New Year.



Here in Japan, people do not face the New Year with a bang. New Year revelry and parties are influences of the west. The traditional New Year here would be family, prayer and rest. If Christmas is to Filipinos, then New Year is to the Japanese. Airports, train stations and bus stations are crowded to the max. This is the only time of the year they go back to their homes, bringing their kids along and enjoying the time in their own inaka (birthplace), aside from the visit to the family cemetery in August. This is also the time of the year when they go to Temple Shrines and pray for blessings at the start of the New Year. Not a few would go at the very strike of 12 MN to the Shrines. Not a few, too, would wait for the first sunrise of the year. And this is the only time of the year when most stores and business are closed for the holidays.



Honestly, I have come to love this type of New Year, especially that it is my first time to be here in Shizuoka, a provincial city. I am sure there were a lot of people who have come back for the holidays. It was really a delight to see families (from grandparents to little grandchildren) walking along the main road to the Shrine in their thick coats, scarves and knitted hats, the youngest usually sitting on dad's shoulders. It was more delightful to see not a few in their kimono.



Of course, for us Catholics, our New Year celebrations must all be put in perspective. It is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. That's why we have the mass... we had it here right at 12 MN and 10:30 this morning. What better way to start the New Year than entrust ourselves to the arms of the One who held Jesus in the first stages of His life!



And so, dear Mother, thank you for being here. Lead me to the blessings that this New Year has in store for me.



(P.S. This Japanese Madonna and Child was painted by a Japanese Carmelite sister.)