Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1017: Chapter 1013 Dongdu New Year Festival

After several days of chaos, the New Year’s Festival in Dongdu has finally arrived.

The New Year’s Festival is a Dongyang tradition, similar to the Spring Festival in Huaxia Country. However, Huaxia Country’s Spring Festival is based on the lunar calendar, whereas Dongyang’s New Year is on New Year’s Day.

The reason for choosing New Year’s Day as the New Year also has its origins.

The Yamato ethnicity is known for its adaptability. During the period of Huaxia Country’s strength, the people of Dongyang relied on Huaxia for survival. At that time, Dongyang was not yet Dongyang and was called Dongying. The people of Dongying took pride in celebrating Huaxia’s Spring Festival and regarded the first day of the first lunar month in Huaxia as their New Year’s Day;

After the Meiji Restoration, the influence of Eastern and Western cultures on Dongyang was profound. As one rose, the other declined. To break free from the history of being subjugated under Huaxia, Dongyang changed its New Year from Huaxia’s Spring Festival to the New Year’s Day of the new calendar. Since then, the period from December 29 to January 3 of the following year became Dongyang’s statutory New Year holiday.

Although they abandoned the lunar Spring Festival of Huaxia, the people of Dongyang have learned the customs of Huaxia’s Spring Festival thoroughly.

In Dongyang’s various festive New Year activities, many customs are attributed to a deity who descends to the mortal world only during the first lunar month—the Toshigami.

Just like Huaxia’s New Year’s Eve, the people of Dongyang also fear this Toshigami. So at the end of the year, starting in late December, they place pine decorations at the entrance, hang decorative straw ropes on the doors, and offer mirror rice cakes at home, all for the arrival of this Toshigami as the main character.

The term ”Ōmisoka” in Dongyang’s script actually refers to December 31, similar to Huaxia’s New Year’s Eve.

On Ōmisoka, every household will do a thorough cleaning, firstly to tidy up the house and secondly to wash away bad luck; this is very similar to traditions in Huaxia Country.

After the big cleaning, families set up mirror rice cakes, which are made from mochi. By noon, everyone has finished all the New Year’s preparations, and by evening, families gather to celebrate by the hearth.

On this night, every family eats soba noodles, as noodles symbolize longevity.

On New Year’s Eve, people either wait at home or at temples for the coming of midnight.

This is similar to our people waiting to hear the New Year’s bell, but the New Year’s bell in Dongyang is quite unique.

As soon as it strikes twelve, all temples across Dongyang ring the bell 108 times, and the deep bell tolls reverberate across the Japanese archipelago.

The reason for ringing the bell 108 times is explained in three ways: firstly, the 108 tolls are said to drive away 108 demons; secondly, they represent 108 deities and Buddhas; thirdly, they add up to the twelve months, twenty-four solar terms, and seventy-two micro-seasons of the year.

Regardless of the reason, it reflects the Dongyang people’s wish to drive away bad luck through the 108 bell tolls and pray for the protection of deities and Buddhas.

After the bell tolling, believers begin to pray to the gods and Buddhas at temples. Many Dongyang people wear traditional kimonos to the temple to pray for blessings. The temple hall provides each visitor with a white strip of paper, which predicts what will happen to them in the new year. After reading it, people hang these white papers on the trees beside the temple hall.

Afterwards, everyone goes to the shrine to worship. The shrine is not dedicated to a particular religious deity but to ancient local tribe leaders, similar to how people in Huaxia Country worship Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang.

The New Year’s Festival is a shrine festival and a large-scale annual ritual that takes place not only in Dongdu but also in other prefectures and cities. Major television stations in Dongyang broadcast live the various shrine worship activities every year.

This year’s New Year’s Festival in Dongdu is held at Meiji Shrine, which enshrines the spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken and is an important shrine of Shinto in Japan.

Aligned with Shinto teachings, the Meiji Shrine is deeply connected with the lives of the people in Dongyang. Various life ceremonies such as newborn naming ceremonies, coming-of-age ceremonies, graduation ceremonies, and weddings are held here every year. The number of visitors to Meiji Shrine is higher than to other shrines.

In previous years, shrine visits as part of the New Year’s Festival were extremely lively and joyous. However, this year, due to the major events involving the National Museum, the originally grand plans for the Dongdu New Year’s Festival also carry a sense of desolation.

Even so, despite the desolation, what must be done must be done. The Dongdu New Year’s Festival commenced as scheduled with rhythmic drum and music, and Huo Sining was among the crowd. She followed the people entering the shrine, washed her hands, and shook the rope with bells hanging at the main hall until the bells rang, then entered the main hall.

Upon entering the main hall, Huo Sining’s gaze immediately fixed on the shrine maiden and priest kneeling at the very center of the hall. Amid the crowd, she immediately spotted Watanabe Yasu, whose eyes were red and face pale.

Perhaps the recent turmoil had greatly impacted Watanabe Yasu’s life, leaving him in a very poor state, teetering on a dangerous edge, especially when seeing the increasingly dark and ominous aura on his forehead, Huo Sining secretly shook her head.

The ceremonial celebration involves several rituals: welcoming the gods, offering silk, presenting gifts, sipping sake and sharing offerings, bidding farewell to the gods, and wishing for burial, which are similar to Huaxia’s ancestor worship rituals: welcoming, burning incense, worshipping, and bidding farewell. As one of the priests, Watanabe Yasu was likely to appear during the presentation of gifts, and it was estimated that the Secret-Color Porcelain Teabowl would be an important offering on the altar during the sake-sipping and offering-sharing phase.

Huo Sining had already brought the fake Yue Kiln Bowl she had taken from the Taicheng Museum, calculated the timing, and waited for the right moment. Having now understood the entire ceremonial process, she took advantage of the large number of people worshipping at the festival to discreetly slip in and out of the crowd, making her way to the bathroom on the side of the main hall. Using her Invisibility Skill once again, she prepared to quietly sneak backstage at the festival.

Despite the fact that the altar area around the main hall was surrounded by a wall of police, Huo Sining found the opportune moment and slipped through the gap in the police wall as the crowd surged.

Just as she approached the altar, she heard the emcee announce that the presentation of gifts was beginning. Priests invited to participate in this New Year’s Festival each carried their offerings, taking small steps toward the incense-burning cauldron. After bowing three times, they raised the items in their hands on a tray above their heads.

A few rounds later, Huo Sining heard the emcee call out Watanabe Yasu’s name and saw Watanabe Yasu carefully stepping forward with his Yue Kiln Secret-Color Porcelain.

Huo Sining’s breath immediately tightened, her entire body tense, with her eyes fixed on the teabowl, not daring to look away even for a second.