This commemorative day was established because at this time of the year people start making osechi, filled with many prayers!
Osechi: traditional Japanese New Year's food. Rather than a specific dish in and of itself, it is composed of many types of food, each of them acting as a sort of talisman or prayer wishing for or against some thing or another during the new year (more often than not, the meaning behind the food has to do with either a pun related to its name, or something related to its appearance). Traditionally, it was considered taboo to prepare food on the New Year, so it's usually prepared in advance.Each type of food in osechi is a prayer with its own meaning...That's—Aaaah!!Don't fill the osechi only with your favorite foods!
That osechi makes no sense!Ghost-Half-chan, who has a sweet toothpackKurikinton
A prayer for plentiful savings
Kurikinton: mashed potatoes with sweetened chestnuts. It represents wealth because the "kin" in "kurikinton" is written with the 金 kanji, meaning "gold".Kurikinton
A prayer for plentiful savings
Kurikinton: mashed potatoes with sweetened chestnuts. It represents wealth because the "kin" in "kurikinton" is written with the 金 kanji, meaning "gold".Gomame (tadzukuri)
A prayer for a bountiful harvest and good health in work
Gomame: dried anchovies/sardines. The meaning of the food has to do with its name: "mame" nowadays means something like "diligently" or "frequently", but back in the day it carried a meaning of "in good health" which, from what I've seen, is the one invoked with this food (and some others with "mame" —otherwise, "bean"— in their name). The wish for a plentiful harvest has to do with its other name, as "tadzukuri" can also mean "tilling a rice field".Osechi ⇨ Chi*koThis meme. Basically, they were playing a word game in which each participant had to say a word starting with chi in time with the music, and one of them went with "chinko" (dick)pack
