New Year

Shogatsu (New Year)
Traditionally, the New Year's holidays, known as Shogatsu, were a time for thanking the gods (kami) who oversee the harvest and for wel-coming the ancestors' spirits who protect families.

Nengajo (New Year Cards)
During the News Year's holidays, people receive greeting cards, known as nengajo, from relatives, friends, and acquaintances,

Hatsumode (First Visits of the Year to shrines and Temples)
During these holidays, families and friends go together to pay the first visits of the year, known as hatsumode, to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

Otoshidama (Presents of Money for Children)
During the New year's holidays, children receive special presents of spending money, known as otoshidama, from parents and relatives.

New Year Games
In earlier times, almost all children took part in such outdoor New Year entertainment as kite-flying and spinning tops (especially for boys and a badminton-like game for girls called hanetsuki. Indoor entertainment included uta karuta card games, which tested the participants' quickness at recognizing poems from the Hyakunin isshu (hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets), and a board game called sugoroku, similar to backgammon.

Spring

Setsubun
Some of the setsubun observances held on this day still take place on February 3 or 4, even though this coincides with the coldest period of winter, For example, there is the ritual of opening the doors and windows of houses and expelling bad luck and evil demons by tossing beans into the air while saying "fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto" ("fortune in an demons out"). It is also said that one will keep healthy by eating on this day the number of beans equivalent to one's age.

Hina-matsuri (Doll Festival)
Hina-matsuri is celebrated on March 3, when spring is not far off. This is an annual event to pray for the happiness and healthy growth of young girls.

Haru no Higan (Vernal Equinox Day)
The traditional observance of Haru no higan, or "spring higan," coincides with the period of seven days centring on the spring equinox, around March 21, At this time, people visit family graves, pay their respects to the souls of their ancestors, and ask Buddhist priests to perform sutra-readings in their honour, A similar observance, known as Aki no higan, or "autumn higan," is held during the one-week period centreing on the autumnal equinox, around September 23.

Hanami (Cherry-Blossom Viewing)
At the end of March and the beginning of April, when in most of Japan the cherry blossoms which symbolize the country begin to bloom, the Japanese people like to make merry at picnics known as hanami ("flower-viewing"), held under blossoming cherry trees.

Children's Day
Children's Day, which falls on May 5 during Golden Week, was traditionally called Tango no sekku (known as "Boys' Day" in English), and was a day set aside to wish for the healthy growth and future career success of young boys.

Summer

Tanabata
The first annual observance of summer is known as Tanabata, falling on July 7. It is a day that commemorates a romantic story about the once- a-year meeting on a bridge across the Milky Way of the "cowherd star" and the "weaving princess star." It was believed that wishes made on this day would be fulfilled; in gardens and other places people set up leaf-bearing bamboo stalks to whose branches they attached strips of paper on which their wishes were written.

Firework Displays (Hanabi)
Throughout Japan, night skies in summer are lit by colourful fireworks as various localities put on firework displays (hanabi taikai).

Bon
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.

Autumn

Tsukimi (Moon Viewing)
The full moon appearing around the middle of the ninth month was called the mid-autumn moon (chushu no meigetsu), and it became a custom to arrange moon-viewing parties to appreciate it's particular beauty.

Shichigosan
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.

Winter

Bonenkai (Year-End Parties)
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.

Christmas
In Japan, Christmas has become popular as a seasonal occasion and, whether or not they are Christians, the Japanese people are fond of displaying Christmas trees, eating Christmas cakes, and exchanging Christmas presents.

New Year's Eve
When Christmas has passed and the bonenkai are over, it will soon be December 31, called in Japanese omisoka. Just before mid-night, 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.