January 11st, 2008

1 My family all stayed at home in Yao. On New Year’s Day We pounded mochi and ate osechi. Osechi is traditional Japanese New Year’s cuisine. The foods that make up osechi each have a special meaning associated with good luck. Ozoni or soup with rice cake and vegetables is also eaten on New Year’s. We also went to a favorite temple called Horyu－ji. During the New Year’s vacation, Japanese people make their first visits to shrines, where they pray for happiness and for the year. They also buy lucky charms and draw sacred lot to tell their fortunes of the year. I consulted an oracle. The fortune said that I’ll have excellent luck! I think a lot of good things are coming this New Year!



















2 1 Scotch New Year’s Eve.
2 New Year's Day parade in London.

3 Birth of JRR Tolkien author of Load of the Rings (1892).

4 This day marks the birth of the tenth and final Sikh prophet=thacher in 1666.

5 Birth of Elvis Presley, singer(1935).

6 The Islamic New Year begins on the day. It is the first day of the month of Muharram.

7 Robert Scott and his party reached the South Pole in 1912.

8 Birth of AA Milne, author of Winne the Pooh.

9 Sir Winston Churchill died on this day in 1965.