Ryukyu New Year
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Ryukyu New Year (Okinawan:Sjoogwaci,[1] Kunigami:Soogaci,[2] Soogaci,[3] Amami:Sjoogwaci,[4] Yaeyama:ʃoŋgwadzï[5]) is Ryukyuans' traditional New Year. The mainland of Japan fully uses the Gregorian calendar after the Meiji Restoration, but the Ryukyu Islands still celebrate the New Year on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar.[6]
The Ryukyu Kingdom first created a calendar based on the Shixian calendar in 1674. The lunar calendar plays a very important role in the fishing-dominated Ryukyu Islands because of the need to rely on the moon's rise and fall to predict the tides. When the Meiji government implemented the solar calendar, the Ryukyu people who were dissatisfied with Japanese rule continued to use the lunar calendar.[citation needed] Locals eat soba noodles to celebrate the new year, and at the beginning of the new year, each family sends New Year's cards to each other and a New Year's gift to the children.[6][7]