"Seeing the old year out"

In Japan, we call the last day of the year "Oh-misoka" and typically follow a tradition to eat soba (=Japanese noodle made from buckwheat) and listen to the striking bell at the temple to see the old year out. Each custom is called "Toshikoshi soba" and "Joya no kane", respectively. Here's a short meaning of each events:

Toshikoshi-soba
Even people who do not eat soba( = Japanese noodle) often are tempted to eat soba during the last days of the year, based on our unique customary thoughts from the ancient times that we cannot finish up the old year without eating soba. There are some reasons why we choose soba and not any other kind of food:
(1)It is thought that soba is a bringer of good luck, family fortunes, and longevity because soba is physically long.
(2) On the contrary, since soba is easy to bite, it is also considered to forget and sever any carryover of hardship and disaster that may have happened during the year.
(3)The third opinion is believed that soba collects fortunes; During the Edo period , a gold and silver craftsmen used balls made of kneaded buckwheat (=soba) to collect splattered gold and silver pieces in the working area, and burned the ball over hibachi (= Japanese heating appliance using charcoal as fuel) to catch residue gold and silver pieces.
While soba maybe a Japanese style fast-food, it seems to have an additional value during the new year period.

Joya-no-kane (= The watch-night bell)
In the last hours of the year, people are brought to realize the end of current year and the start of New Year by listening to the beat of watch-night bell from the temples. Often called Joya-no-kane, this event strikes a bell 108 times on the last night of the year at the temples of every region all over Japan. The meaning of 108 has various views, however in Buddhism, it's basically said that we human being possesses 108 worldly desires, and we strike the bell 108 times in order to get rid of them. The figure 108 is said to be derived from 5 basic human sensory organs (=eye, ear, nose, mouth, skin) and a mind. These 6 feelings is further categorized into 3 colors of good, bad and flat, and therefore this amounts to total of 18 feelings. Then each of these 18 feelings has 2 sides of vice and purity. Furthermore they are divided into 3 tenses: past, present and future. Altogether, we see that 18 x 3 x 2 = 108.
It takes roughly one hour to strike the bell 108 times. A few minutes before the new year, the solemn sound of a bell can be heard from a neighboring temples in a quiet night. While cheerful countdown party may be fun and enjoyable, it may also be a unique and tasteful way to pass the year-end by listening closely to the sound of a bell as they linger over the quiet night. There are some temples that allow you to strike the bell. If you have a chance, have a try and you may see that the unique sound is both soothing and pacifying.
End

Key Word

be tempt to ..		derive
longevity		sensory
sever		organ
carryover		categorize
knead		solemn
splatter		linger
residue		soothe
worldly desires		pacify
get rid of