Another interesting tradition. I always enjoy hearing about these, Bashcraft, as they are so unique and foreign to everything I have known. I wonder how far out this extends to your family... Your immediate family? Extended family? Cousins out to fifth and sixth? I'd think if it covered too much of your family tree, no one would ever celebrate New Year's!

As a side note/question, is there a reason behind this tradition? I would hazard a guess that because a family member died, the year was not a happy one for all?

Im sorry for your family`s loss my friend.

This year I learned of the same tradition also, due to my GFs grandmother having passed away this year also their family didnt celebrate New Years either.

Hey man since you are in Korea down some soju for me! Its nice stuff! ;D

[en.wikipedia.org]

I want to hear Night Notes about Minibash/Missybash in America, if you don't mind. ;)

wow.. even though she passed a couple months ago (IIRC), you still don't celebrate new year's? what a tradition.

Sorry to hear about your family's loss Bash.

Sorry for your loss.

My mom died of cancer while I was over here in the summer of '05. And when New Year's came around, I started to write "Nengacho" to send out to all of my friends. Little did I know that it is strictly taboo to do such a thing, that in a year when a family member dies, you literally disappear when New Years rolls around. Which sucked, because I was absolutely devasted, and wanted everyone's support.

Hope you and your family had a good New Years, mine was spent hunched over my laptop, putting the finishing touches on my final final final research paper for college.

Anyway, while you're over in Kankoku, make sure you grub on some "Rei-men." I've never been to Korea, but when I eventually do, my diet will consist soley of "Rei-men."

「ことよろ」

Sorry to hear for your loss, a real close friend of mines brother passed away in November except he celebrated like whoa, drunk phone calls are the best when your on the receiving end and your sober.

My grandfather passed away this holiday, and we also did not celebrate New Years. It sure gives you resolve to be nicer to your family come the next year, though!

Sorry to hear about that! :( My uncle in the States just passed away a couple of days after Christmas. I got a call from my mom on the 1st and the first thing I shout out is, "Happy New Year!" and instead she just says, "Well before you get all excited, I have something to tell you..." >_<

Same thing happened to my friends up in Niigata. They sent out all of their New Year's cards and then like 1 day later the wife's grandmother passed away. So the wife was doubly devastated because not only had she passed away, but she had also inadvertently broken a big taboo.

Is the reason you don't send cards and celebrate because you are just supposed to be somber? Or is it also because if you do it forebodes someone else dying in the coming year?

Really? Wow...all my years in Japan and that is one custom that I never knew about. I'm actually really surprised about that.

I learn something new from Kotaku everyday.

@FarmboyinJapan: That sounds good to me...because Everybody Loves Rei-Men.

I can partly sympathize; while I'm not religious at all myself, I do enjoy the more secular Christmas traditions, and it's usually a big deal with my family. This year, however, my Grandfather died, and Christmas with my extended family was almost entirely cancelled, and with my immediate family it was still rushed and put off until the last minute.

My girlfriend is currently in Osaka, so I spent no time with her, and she has also told me about what it's like there. It seems like a nice place, but it mustn't be pleasant when something like this happens. Sorry to hear it.

@Robotube: I don't believe everybody observes this tradition, at least not so militantly. Not all families do things exactly the same. My wife's family doesn't suspend New Year's celebrations if there's a death in the family (there hasn't been one since I've been with her, but there have been in the past), and I'm sure that people you know have had deaths in their families in a year that they've celebrated New Year's.

You generally don't send out "Happy New Year!" cards the year that there's a death in the family, but you still do all the other customary things. Or at least, my family does. And you still can go out and celebrate with other people.

That's an interesting custom, though it sounds kind of decidedly unfun considering most people would like to go out and forget about things and hope the new year would be better and death-free.

I'm Sorry for your loss. This is an interesting tradition. The person does not have to pass away on New Years for the family to stop celebrating? And this is presumably for the rest of their lives? Cultural differences, always a crazy animal...

Hmmm interesting custom, but I feel sorry for japanese families with an abnormal amount of people, they probably couldn't ever celebrate New Years or whatever holiday you can't celebrate because of death.

But then again if it's someone dear to me, it wouldn't be such a great holiday anyway, not at least for a few months. Then again I wouldn't want my death stopping anyone from feeling even a little bit of joy.

Sorry for your loss. Especially at such a normally joyous time.

FYI he originally wrote about it in October. Not that your condolences are any less welcome, I'm sure.
[kotaku.com]

Also, I didn't want my semi-off-topic comment to seem insensitive to the rest of yous.

I think for some is 100 days or 3 months to observe custom, partly also a religion or belief factor. My fren don't shave during that period when his mom passed away. You can't celebrate happy event, cannot attend to weddings etc as will bring bad luck to newly wed causing all sorts of problem later as consider a happy event clash with sad event that happen

Aww man...really sad to hear that. My girlfriend have old grandparents in the philipines and they're getting real old. We're going to see her grandparents and dad later this month. She's afraid that they's croak before she gets to see them. I told her, old age is a fact of life and they'll pass away one day. They got to live a pretty full life so don't be too sad about it. But still you can't help it right? It's even more sad when their life is taken away before their time like my dad who passed away in a car accident. I woudln't wish that on my worse enemy.

I have some Laotian friends who when people pass away they seem to celebrate. People would come over to the house and play cards, drink bear or whatever. Seems very rowdy and inappropriate at first to me. But they were telling me that for 3 days the soul hangs around and the people is there to keep it company. I guess people mourn in different ways. But I kind of prefer their style, because it's not as depressing.

>-.-< condolences, though here's to a more uplifting New Year for you and the family.

Yay! Ashcraft's night notes are back. My other reason for being on this website. Too bad to hear about your grandmother, and missing out on the New Year's festivities.

I wish Bashcraft did more Features on his travels, like I would LOVE to hear about the mundane crap he gets upto doing interviews, and your travels.

Sorry for your loss, Bash.

I was curious as to why the Smash Brothers Dojo closed down for New Year's but not for Christmas. I guess this explains why.

Don't forget to scout out for some bulgogi while you're there! ;D

It'll be interesting to hear what's going on in Korea's gaming industry from you as well.

Also, has the Starcraft craze died down any from the increased popularity of MMORPGs in Korea?

@geekgrrl: It can get much worse, take the Greeks for example. When my dad's younger brother died, I learned about how the whole family death custom works. You cannot celebrate (and in some cases, enjoy) anything for a year following the death, that includes going to parties, clubbing, listening to music, festivities, birthdays and so on. Immediate family also needs to wear black for the duration of the year. I forgot what else it involved as I never followed these customs, even when my other uncle died a couple years ago. I find it pointless to extend your mourning over such a long period, customs like this has to be one of the worst ways to get over someones death. Hey, let's live like shit for half our lives because family members die every once in awhile.

@ruslander: In Shinto tradition, death is the ultimate source of uncleanliness. Simply having a connection to a person who is dead makes you unclean and it takes time to cleanse yourself. In Heian Period Japan, if your father died, you had to spend something like 47 days (I don't remember exactly, it's been a while since I've read The Tale of Genji) essentially cut off from outside human contact, going through various rites of ablution. I could be wrong, but I think it has less to do with somberness towards the dead, and more to do with spreading the taint of death by associating with people during a time of celebration and also with bad luck (the Japanese focus especially on issues of luck during the New Year and death is definitely bad luck).