Why do we eat soba on New Year’s Eve and Zoni on New Year’s Day?
Yoshie Doi
Last year I made Eve Soba using Matcha Soba. |
Our home-made Zoni made with white miso and raw wheat gluten. |
We would like to express our deepest sympathies to everyone affected by the earthquake that occurred in the Noto region on New Year’s Day. My heart hurts. Please take care of yourself during these cold days.
It’s common to eat Toshikoshi soba on New Year’s Eve, but there’s a reason for that. Ever since I was a child, I have eaten herring soba on New Year’s Eve and ozoni on New Year’s Day as a matter of course.
Toshikoshi soba eaten on New Year’s Eve dates back to the mid-Edo period, and in Edo city it was customary to eat soba on the last day of the month, and the soba eaten on New Year’s Eve was called toshikoshi soba or toshitori soba. Until the Edo period, it was customary to turn one year older on New Year’s Day rather than on your birthday. There are various theories, but it makes sense to enjoy soba noodles with hot soup stock during the busy New Year’s Eve. There may be a lot of zaru soba in Tokyo, but the book “Hon Shokushokan” says that soba has the effect of increasing metabolism, so perhaps it was eaten for health reasons as well.
In the Edo period, sunset marked the end of the day, and the end of the day was considered the beginning of a new year. That’s why it was called Toshikoshi Soba.
On New Year’s Eve, we prepare rice cakes made from fresh rice to welcome the New Year God. Mochi is displayed in the highest alcove. Since the “Urumochi rice” variety, which is said to have first been introduced to Japan, is the most expensive, it seems that special Kagami-mochi rice cakes were offered to the gods. The original roots of Zoni were to eat on New Year’s Day.
It also had the meaning of receiving the soul of Toshigami. In Japan, the year-end cleaning and kagami-mochi (kagami-mochi) is a preparation for the arrival of Toshigami in each house at sunrise on New Year’s Day. Toshigami is the god of agriculture, so it seems that mochi made from rice was offered as an offering. Since the god appears at sunrise, I worshiped the first sunrise of the year. Japan is the only country in the world that has the custom of worshiping the first sunrise of the year. Since ancient times, people have worshiped the god of sunrise. In Kyushu, it is often called “Naorai-ni” because it was celebrated by offering rice cakes as a memorial service to the New Year’s God, giving it a sense of historical romance.
On New Year’s Day, we received Zoni and prayed for good health throughout the year. In Kyoto, Zoni is made with white miso. At popular miso shops, reservations are being made starting in November. That’s why eating white miso Zoni is an important custom on New Year’s Day.
The end of document
Translated by Masami Otani
