Today, I went to Nara with my husband, my daughter and her family to have lunch. I'll write about the lunch in another post, and today I'd like to focus on a special ornament for New Year called shimenawa in Japanese.

We decorate our house with shimenawa every year as well, but my husband's mother passed away last year, so we've been in mourning. Traditionally, the families in mourning don't celebrate the New Year. We invited my parents, our daughter and her family to gather, but we didn't prepare the special meal called osechi for New Year. We also avoid saying "Happy New Year" to others, even though I had said it in English. I don't follow Japanese traditions in English.

In my neighborhood, we no longer see the ornament anymore because probably most people have already taken them down. They are normally removed around January 7. However, in Nara we saw many of them, so I took some photos.

All the pictures below show different styles of shimenawa, but they all has the same meaning. They relate to Shinto. When you visit Shinto shrines, you often see these ornaments hanging under the torii (a gate). At home, we place smaller versions at our gates or entrances, as these are believed to be the places where the gods enter. These area should be kept clean to welcome the gods. After cleaning our house for the New Year, we decorate them.

I guess people in this area will remove them around January 15.

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