Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Japanese traditional culture ~16~ Otoshidama

  I introduce the tradition of otoshidama. おとしだま(お年玉)
There are many traditions to introduce you in this Osyogatsu season.
  At the beginning of the year, Japanese people gether at the house with
relatives. And they have a lunch or diner together. It is good chance
to meet your relatives.
  Children look forward to this event because they can get some otoshidama.
Otoshidama is money that is given from older people to children or younger
people. They put money into a bag and give children. The amount of money
depends on children's age. If he or she is older, the amount would be more
higher. Normally, he sum of the otoshidama is from 1000 yen to 3000 yen (?)
Usually, the money is given by paper money, not coin.

 Thanks for reading!

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6 comments:

Saku said...

That's interesting!
I don't know if this is a German "tradition", but in my family and friend's families we do the same on Easter. We always get money from grandparents, aunt/uncle, etc

Paul said...

In France too, grandparents often do this with their grandchildren at the beginning of the year. We call this "étrennes"

marimari said...

To Saku. I guess
most of Japanese people don't
know the day of Easter.
I looked up it on internet.
Because there are a lot of
Buddhist in Japan.

marimari said...

To Paul
I did not know that. That's very interesting.

Paul said...

It is sure that Easter is a Christian feast! when God the son (God is one and three person in the same time) came back to life . It should be the most important feast here... but as a lot of french are atheist, they even don't know what it means...
Christmas too, as you probably know, it's the birth of God the son.

I like your blog because you talk to us about all of those feast, traditions, beliefs.

Saku said...

Oh my... Sorry I forgot you don't know Easter in Japan! *haha*
But now you learned something new... ;D