Kakizome Day and Ninth Day of Christmas

This is Kakizome Day; kakizome means "first writing". Today people all over Japan will take time to use a brush and sumi ink to write out a favorite quote or phrase - the first calligraphy of the new year. Kakizome is a way to express your positive wishes for the New Year.

Agenda:

1. Review the Divine laws

2. Prayer candle ceremony

3. Practice writing

5. Make an Omamori

6. Eat Hoppin' John

1. Review the Divine Laws:

At Soyal, I review the Divine Laws, as I see them. A Divine Law is anything that comes directly from God: a natural law, universal truth, principle, or a rule of conduct that is inherent and essential in human society.

Today I will review my testimony of Witness: Speak truth through my words, writing, artwork, and actions, and lead by example.

Some of my plans for witness this year:

• Show up to meeting and community events to witness.
• Share realities, and active hope solutions.
• Make and share craftivism to spread a message of earthcare. 

2. Prayer Candle ceremony:

At Soyal, Hopis make prayer feathers for their family and friends, for personnel well-being, for the increase of animals and crops, and for any other purpose they can think of. At the Soyal ceremony, they breath their wishes and prayers on the feathers, then hang them up so that the wind will carry their prayers skyward.

I have a tradition of using candles instead of feathers, which are more rooted in my own ancestral past. Now that I am home, I will have a daily prayer candle ceremony through the rest of Soyal, using small candles and candle ends, and will choose a new candle to add each day.

Today I light a small white moon candle, and a blue candle for truth and witness, and ask the Spirits to bring the rain of loving care down upon the whole world.

Hopi Prayer: Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy ---Myself--- Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.

3. Practice writing:

In Japan, calligraphy is part of the curriculum in all schools. On Kakizome Day, students begin the year by practicing their calligraphy skills - calligraphy is the normal handwriting in Japan, and your handwriting is thought to reveal your personality.

These pictures are from a few year's ago, when my art students got a chance to practice Japanese calligraphy. You don't have to write in Japanese if that's intimidating.

Supplies: Ink stone, ink stick, sumi brush, newsprint, rice paper

1- Choose what to write: People usually write a favorite poem, proverb, or positive and encouraging kanji symbol, like "good health" or "tolerance and acceptance".

2- Grind your own ink (optional): Ink grinding gives you a meditative moment to reflect your thoughts and wishes for the new beginning of the year. Just add a few drops of water to the ink stone and slide the ink stick back and forth until a small amount of ink forms in the well.

3- Practice with the brush and ink: Japanese calligraphy requires skill- you have to hold the brush just so, and stroke and place the characters on the paper with precision and beauty. Try out the calligraphy on newsprint several times to get the feel for it before you use the rice paper. Practicing one positive kanji over and over helps you to develop skill and also focus on the positive theme you have selected.

4- If you end up with something you like, you can mount it on heavier paper and hang it to give you inspiration all year. Or you can make it small enough to fit inside an omamori.

4. Make an Omamori:

Omamori from 2017

Starting at dawn on New Year’s Day, Japanese people flock to shrines and temples to offer prayers and wishes for the New Year. While there, each person buys a new omamori- a traditional Japanese cloth charm- and returns last year’s omamori to be burned. 

Omamori is Japanese for “honorable protector”. They are most commonly rectangular, and contain a piece of wood or paper inside, with some powerful Shinto or Buddhist words for protection, or health, or luck, or a variety of other specific uses. The cool thing about omamori is that they are personal and portable. You can carry your omamori however feels right to you: It’s common to attach a safety omamori to a backpack to protect a child on the walk to school, or to keep a study omamori in a pencil case, or hold it in a pocket during an exam.

Since I can't buy an omamori at a local temple, I decided to make my own several years ago, for traffic safety.

Supplies: sturdy fabric, paper for the pattern, scissors, needles and thread, awl (or something else pointing), cord, nice paper for the writing, pen or sumi ink and brush

1- Draw and cut a pattern:  Mine is 2-1/2 by 4-inches. Omamori are usually rectangular with angles at the top.

2- Fold your fabric in half at the bottom edge of the pattern and cut.

3- Turn the fabric inside out (front to front) and sew up the sides, but not the angled top. (The bottom is the fold line.) You can sew by hand or on a machine.

4- Turn the fabric right sides out again and poke out all the corners. 

5- Now you are ready to write your sacred words. Omamori can have a general blessing and protection or it can have specific focus such as:

Kaiun (good luck) 開運

Katsumori (success) 勝守

Koutsuu-anzen (traffic safety) 交通安全
Gakugyou-joujo (education and passing tests) 学業乗除

Shiawase (happiness) 幸せ

Enmusubi (love) 縁結び

I'm not sure what words are usually inside an omamori, so I just wrote the words of the purpose, which was traffic safety.



6- Once you write out your words, slide them inside. (I put mine in plastic first to protect from rain). 

Then finish sewing up the angled edges and the top to totally encase your wish.

7- Omamori are hung by a cord tied with a special Japanese tassel knot. I found this great video tutorial showing how to tie it.





8- Once your knot it tied, poke a hole in the top of your omamori with an awl or something else that's poky.

Front

9- Slide both ends of your cord through the hole so that the tassel knot is resting on the front top

Back

and tie a small square knot on the back to keep it in place. Finished!

My omamori was tied to my bike handlebars for many years, and was stollen this fall (along with my bike) so I made myself a new one today.

5. Eat Hoppin' John:

In many places legumes (beans, peas, lentils) and cooked greens (cabbage, collards, kale, or chard) are consumed at New Year's because they are symbolic of money; legumes resemble coins, and greens look like folded money. This delicious recipe comes from the American south.

We make this recipe every year from the leftover Christmas ham bone, as soon after the new year as possible.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 c. dried black-eyed peas
• 1 ham bone
• 2 stalks of celery
• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 1 large carrot 
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 c. cooked ham, cubed
• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp. fresh or dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red chili pepper flakes
• salt to taste
• 6-10 leaves of kale, collards, or beet greens

Yield: Serves 6 to 8-

1- Place black-eyed peas in a large soup pot over medium-high heat with the ham bone; cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until peas are tender, about 45 minutes.

2- Meanwhile, dice the celery, onion, green pepper, carrot and jalapeno. Mince the garlic. Stem and chop the greens. Cube the ham.

3- Heat oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add ham, diced vegetables (but not the greens), red chilies, thyme, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8 minutes.

4- Add black-eyed peas along with 2 c. of the cooking liquid (add more or less as desired), and the greens. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until greens are tender, about 1 hour.

5- Remove the bay leaf. Add salt to taste. Serve with cornbread or biscuits. The more you eat the larger your fortune in the coming year!