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外国の行事 |
おいしいお料理レシピ |
行事のなぜ？何? |
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Valentines day
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Every February we celebrate Valentines Day by giving flowers, candy and cards to those we love. We do this in honor of Saint Valentine. |
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St. Patrick’s day
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We celebrate Saint Patrick's Day each year on March 17th. The festive holiday has everyone wearing green (so they don't get pinched) and chatting of four leaf clovers, shamrocks, lucky leprechauns, and kissing some big rock called a blarney stone. |
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Ester
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食べるのにはもったいないかわいいイースターバニーケーキです。 |
2005年のイースターは3月27日 |
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Mother’s day
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Father’s day
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Earth day
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In 1963, former Senator Gaylord Nelson began to worry about our planet. Senator Nelson knew that our world was getting dirty and that many of our plants and animals were dying. He wondered why more people weren't trying to solve these problems. He talked to other lawmakers and to the President. They decided that the President would go around the country and tell people about these concerns. He did, but still not enough people were working on the problem. Then, in 1969, Senator Nelson had another idea. He decided to have a special day to teach everyone about the things that needed changing in our environment. On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was held. People all over the country made promises to help the environment. |
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Halloween
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The celebration of Halloween today is a mixture of rituals and celebrations from a lot of different people.The earliest origin is from the Celts, who lived in Scotland. On October 31, they celebrated what they called Samhain (pronounced So-in). It was the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the cold, dark winters. The Celts believed that on Oct 31, the Lord of Death released souls back to Earth. On October 31, the Celts wore scary costumes because they believed that then the evil spirits wouldn't recognize them as humans and wouldn't mess with them. This is probably where the tradition of dressing up in costumes on Halloween came from. |
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Thanks giving
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The traditional Thanksgiving is a combination of religious and harvest celebrations. The Pilgrim Feast of 1621 is generally what we think of when we think of the very first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims had just had a really good harvest after a very difficult winter. To celebrate, the Pilgrims called for a huge feast! |
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Christmas
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日本の行事 |
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お正月 New Year’s Day |
一月は元旦（がん・たん）、国民（こく・みん）の休日（きゅう・じつ）で、日本の年中行事（ねん・ちゅう・ぎょう・じ）のカレンダーで最も大きな催（もよお）しのひとつだ。多くの人が都会を離れ、田舎へ帰って、家族や友達と休みを過ごす。 元旦の日の出（ひ・の・で）のかなり前から、人々は神社（じん・じゃ）やお寺（てら）へ健康で幸せな一年を祈願しに大群となり詣でる。これは初詣と呼ばれ、一年中で最も大切な儀式（ぎ・しき）のひとつだ。明けましておめでとうと言って、新年が希望（き・ぼう）に満（み）ちて、健康（けん・こう）であるようにと、、知り合い（し・り・あ・い）とあいさつをかわす。おせちと呼ばれる特別な料理は、年末に準備され、一月の一日から三日までの三が日に食べられる。 二・三十年前まで、子供たちはたこあげ、こま回し、かるたとり、はねつき、、福笑い、すごろくのような伝統的（でん・とう・てき）な娯楽（ご・らく）に夢中（む・ちゅう）になって、正月をを過ごした。しかしながら、今日（こんにち）ではこれらの娯楽はあまり遊ばれない。子供たちが楽（たの）しみにしていることのひとつは、正月の朝、友達や知り合いからの年賀状を読むことだ。しかし、一番のご褒美（ほう・び）は、間違いなく、両親（りょう・しん）や、親戚（しん・せき）や正月の間（あいだ）に会うそのほかの大人（おとな）たちからもらうお年玉だ。 |
January is New Year’s Day, a national holiday and one of the biggest events on the calendar of annual festivities in Japan. Many people who’ve moved to big cities return home for the holidays to be with family and friends. From well before dawn on New Year’s Day, people flock to shrines and temples to pray for a healthy and happy year. This is called Hatsu-mode and is one of the most important rituals of the year. When we greet our acquaintances, moreover, we say “Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu”( a happy new year)to convey our wishes that the year to come will be full of hope and good health. Special meals called osechi ryoei, prepared at the end of the year before, are eaten on January 1-3. Until about few decades ago, kids spent New Year’s engaged in such traditional pastimes as takoage(flying kites), koma (spinning tops), and playing iroha karuta(a traditional Japanese cards game), hanetsuki(a type of badminton played with wooden paddles and shuttlecocks), fuku warai(a contest where blindfolded players take turns arranging parts of a face), and sugoroku(Japanese variety Parcheesi). None of these pastimes are played very much by kids these days, though. One thing children look forward to doing on New Year morning is reading nengajo（New Year greeting cards) from friends and acquaintances. But biggest treat, no doubt, is receiving otoshidama from parents, relatives, and other adults they meet during New Year. |
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節分 Setubun and bean-throwing |
日本にははっきりした四季がある。春、夏、秋、冬。節分という言葉はもともと季節が変わる日を表す。そこで、4回あったが、今日では立秋の前の一日だけがそう呼ばれる。年によって、2月3日か4日だ。 節分の日には多くの世帯で豆まきをする。枡に煎った大豆を一杯入れ、家中の部屋に豆をまく。「鬼は外、福は内」と叫びながら。意味は鬼は窓を開け、外にもまく。豆まきは旧暦の正月の儀式として始まった。邪気や不幸の種をを追い出し、同様に家族の幸福と商売繁盛を祈るために。 豆まきのが終わったあと、みんなは自分の年齢と同じ数だけ豆を食べる。そうすることによって、人々はその年病気にかからないと信じられている。小さい子供のいる家庭は特にこの日を楽しみにする。なぜなら、豆まきは大変楽しいから。一人が鬼になり、走り回る。一方ほかの人は鬼に向けて豆を投げつける。いくつかの学校では生徒たちが鬼の面を作り豆まきを楽しむ。 |
Japan has four distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The term setubun originally referred to the days marking the change from one season to the next, so that there were four of them, but today only the day before risshun is called by that name. Setsubun comes on either February 3 or 4, depending on the year. On the night of Setubun many households do mame-maki. They fill a masu(a wooded measuring cup) with roasted soybeans and throw the beans all about the room, shouting “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” meaning “out with the goblins and in with fortune!” They also open the windows and throw the beans outside. Mame-maki began as a New year ceremony to drive out evil spirits and the seeds of misfortune, as well as to pray for the family’s well-being and good business. After the mame-maki is over, everyone eats the same number of beans as their own age. It is believed that by doing so, people will be free of sickness during that year. Families with little children especially look forward to this day because mame-maki can be a lot of fun. One person acts as the goblin and runs around, while the others throw beans at the person. At some schools, the students make goblin masks and enjoy Mame-maki. |
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ひな祭り Hina Matsuri |
3月3日はひな祭りで、女の子の幸せで健康な成長を祈る。娘のいる家庭では家の中に雛飾りを飾ってこの日を注目する。 雛は平安時代の宮廷の衣装をつけ段々のひな壇を赤いフェルトの毛せんにのせる。雛人形の大きさも、段の数もいろいろだが、たいてい飾りは5段7段。お内裏様とお雛様だけの1段飾りも普通だ。一番上の段は天皇と皇后のためにとってある。金箔の折りたたみの屏風は二人の後ろに、ちょうど本当の古代の宮廷の高座のように置かれる。 2段目には三人官女、三段目には五人囃子。大臣は四段目の菱餅や雛あられの左右に座る。そして、5段目には警護が左のみかんの木、右の桜の木に対して配置される。 旧暦の三月三日に雛を飾る習慣は、江戸時代に始まった。人形をを魔よけに邪気をはらう方法として始まった。 ほとんどの家庭では二月中旬にそれぞれのきれいな雛人形のセットをを押入れから出して、ひな祭りが終わるとすぐそれをまた片つける。これは片つけるのが遅いとその家の娘たちが結婚問題で苦労するという古い迷信に由来する |
March 3 is Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival or Girls’ Festival), when people pray for the happiness and healthy growth of girls. Families with young daughters mark this day by setting up a display of dolls inside the house. The dolls wear costumes of the imperial court during the Heian period(794-1192) and are placed on a tiered platform covered with red felt. The size of the dolls and number of steps vary, but usually the displays are of five or seven layers; single-tiered decorations with one male and one female doll are also common. The top tier is reserved for the emperor and the empress. A miniature gilded folding screen is placed behind them, just like the real Imperial throne of the ancient court. On the second tier are three ladies-in waiting, and on the third are five male court musicians. Ministers sit on either side of trays of food on the fourth step, and the fifth row features guards flanked by an orange tree to the left and a sherry tree to the right. The practice of displaying these dolls on the third say of the third month on the traditional Japanese calendar began during the Edo prtiod(1603-1868). It started as a way of warding of evil spirits, with the dolls acting as a charm. Most families take their beautiful collection of dolls out of the closet around mid-February and put it away again as soon as Hina Maturi is over. This because of an old superstition that families that are slow in putting back the dolls have trouble marrying off their daughters. |
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こどもの日 Children’s Day |
5月5日はこどもの日で、子供たちの健やかな成長と幸福を祝う日だ。1948年に国民の休日となったが、古代からの祝いの日である。 5月5日は伝統的に端午の節句と呼ばれ、男の子の祭りであった。女の子の祭りはひな祭りで3月3日だ。 こどもの日には男の子のいる家庭では家の外にこいの形ののぼりを立て、家の中には有名な武将や英雄の人形を飾る。鯉は流れを上向きに泳ぎ、龍になるという中国の伝説によって、強さと成功のシンボルであるために選ばれた。 最近は、多くの人がアパートや小さめのうちに住むようになり、こいのぼりもより小さくなり、今では家の中に飾るようなミニチュアーのものもある。この日にはまた、家庭で菖蒲の葉や根を入れた菖蒲湯に入る。これは菖蒲は体を丈夫に邪気をはらうと考えられるからだ。柏の葉に包んだもちの中に餡をつめた柏餅と呼ばれるものが食べられる。 |
May 5 is Children’s Day, when families celebrate the healthy growth and happiness of children. It became a national holiday in 1948, But it has been a day of celebration in Japan since ancient times. The fifth day of the fifth month was traditionally called Tango no Sekku and was a festival for boys. Girls have their own festival, called Hina Maturi, held on March 3. On Children’s day, families with boys fly huge carp-shaped streamers (Koinobori) outside the house and display dolls of famous warriors and other heroes inside. The carp was chosen because it symbolizes strength and success; according to a Chinese legend, a carp swam upstream to become a dragon. In recent years, as more people have moved into apartments and smaller houses, the carp streamers have also gotten smaller, and there are now miniature versions that are decorated indoors. Also on this day, families often take baths sprinkled with iris leaves and roots. This is because the iris is thought to promote good health and ward off evil. Rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves and filled with sweet bean paste, called kashiwamochi, are also eaten. |
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七夕 Tanabata |
七夕いわゆる星の祭りは7月7日の夜に行われる。その祭りの元は織姫と彦星の恋人たちが天の川で隔てられて、一年にこの日一日しか会うことを許されないという伝説による。 子供たちも大人もそれぞれのお願いを細い色月の短冊に書いて、そのほかの飾りと一緒に笹の枝につるし、家の裏庭や玄関に置く。そこで、願いがかなうように祈る。 仙台や平塚は手の込んだ七夕かざりでとりわけ有名だ。これらの2都市では商店街に商店がスポンサーになった巨大な飾りを呼び物にして、お互いに、その飾りの大きさをお互いに競う。 |
Tanabata, or the Star Festival, is held on the evening of July 7. The festival traces its origins to a legend that the Cowherd Star(Altair) and Weaver Star( vega), lovers separated by the Milky Way, are allowed to meet just once a year-on the seventh day of the seventh month. Children and adults write their wishes on narrow strips of colored paper and hang them, along with other paper ornaments, on bamboo branches placed in the backyards or entrances of their homes. They then pray hard that their wishes will come true. Sendai(Miyagi Pregecture) and Hiratsuka(Kanagawa Prefecture)are particularly famous for their elaborate Tanabata Displays. Shopping arcades in these two cities feature huge decorations that are sponsored by local shops, which try to outdo one another in the size of their displays. |
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お盆 |
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Bon, or obon, is an annual observance to welcome and console the souls of one's ancestors, who are thought to visit one's home at this time of the year. It was traditionally observed around the middle of the seventh month according to the lunar calendar. At present it is observed in most places between July 13 and 15, though in some regions between August 13 and 15. On July 13, welcoming fires (mukaebi) are lit to greet the ancestors' spirits. Then, on the sixteenth, seeing-off fires (okuribi) are lit as the ancestral souls return to the spirit world. During Bon, many companies and stores close for vacation and, since people who work away from their native places often return there with their wives or husbands and children, transportation facilities, as during Golden Week, become very congested. The biggest event of the Bon season is the Bon Odori, which is held throughout Japan. One of the most famous is the Awa odori of Tokushima. People usually go to the neighborhood park orshirine in yukata(Summer kimono) and dance in a circle to recorded music. |
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Shichigosan |
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November 15 is a day for visiting Shinto shrines with boys aged three and five and girls aged three and seven to pray for their safety and healthy growth. Traditionally, small boys wear haori (Japanese half-coats) and hakama (divided skirts) and the girls wear kimono, but many are seen nowadays wearing suits and dresses. On this day parents buy at shrines a type of candy called chitose-ame which is supposed to convey prayers for long life, and at home families celebrate by eating rice boiled with red beans (sekihan) and a sea bream prepared complete with head and tail (okashiratsuki no tai). |
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Bonenkai (Year-End Parties |
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After the beginning of December, many year-end parties known as bonenkai take place in pubs and restaurants. These are motivated both by the idea of expressing appreciation for people's hard work during the year and the notion of forgetting difficulties and having a good time at the year's end. The Japanese people are very fond of bonenkai and people of all ages and belonging to all kinds of groups, including students and company employees, become busy planning these events. In most cases, each participant pays his or her own expenses, but there are cases where companies sponsor bonenkai for their employees and cover these parties' costs. |
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New Year's Eve |
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When Christmas has passed and the bonenkai are over, it will soon be December 31, called in Japanese omisoka. Just before midnight, Buddhist temples all over the country begin to strike bells in an observance known as joya no kane. The bells are struck 108 times, symbolizing a purification of what are said to be 108 earthly desires (bonno). Then a new year will begin with the observance of Shogatsu |
