The first sunrise refers to the custom of observing the first sunrise of the year. Such a custom may be just an observation of the sunrise on a special day, or has a religious meaning for those who worship the Sun, such as the followers of traditional religions in Korea and Japan and the Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, Chukchi and the Iñupiat in the Arctic Circle, for praying for good luck.
In Japan, the observation of the first sunrise of the year (Japanese : 初日の出, romanized: Hatsu-Hinode) on the first day on the Old Calendar has been part of the traditional Shintoist worship of Amaterasu, the sun goddess. [1] Nowadays, Japanese travel agents arrange trips to observe the earliest first sunrise of the year on the new Gregorian calendar in the easternmost Ogasawara Islands of the Japanese archipelago.
In Mongolia, there is a custom of observing the first sunrise on the first day of the year at the top of the mountain the Mongolian lunisolar calendar. commonly known as Tsagaan Sar. The holiday has shamanistic influences. [2] [3]
In Korea, there is also a custom of observing the first sunrise on the first day of the year, either on the traditional Korean calendar or the new calendar. Pohang Homigot, Ulleung County and Jeongdongjin are famous place to watch first sunrise. [4]
In the Arctic circle, the Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, Chukchi and the Iñupiat observe the first sunrise on the first day of the year (Inuktitut : ᓯᕗᓪᓕᖅᐹᒥ ᓯᕿᓂᖅ ᓴᖅᑭᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᒥ) by extinguishing three qulliqs and relighting them. [5] [6] This is to honour the sun and moon.
Eskimo is an exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit and the Yupik of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, the Aleut, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the family of Eskaleut languages.
The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and the adjacent subarctic regions as far south as Labrador. The Inuit languages are one of the two branches of the Eskimoan language family, the other being the Yupik languages, which are spoken in Alaska and the Russian Far East. Most Inuit people live in one of three countries: Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark; Canada, specifically in Nunavut, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories, the Nunavik region of Quebec, and the Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut regions of Labrador; and the United States, specifically in northern and western Alaska.
The New Year is the time or day at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system today, New Year occurs on January 1. This was also the first day of the year in the original Julian calendar and the Roman calendar.
Cape Dezhnyov or Cape Dezhnev, formerly known as East Cape or Cape Vostochny, is a cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia. It is located on the Chukchi Peninsula in the very sparsely populated Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. This cape is located between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait, 82 kilometres (51 mi) across from Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska; the Bering Strait is delimited by the two capes. The Diomede Islands and Fairway Rock are located in the midst of the strait.
The Yupik are a group of Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples of western, southwestern, and southcentral Alaska and the Russian Far East. They are related to the Inuit and Iñupiat. Yupik peoples include the following:
The Japanese New Year is an annual festival that takes place in Japan. Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1 of each year, New Year's Day. Prior to 1872, traditional events of the Japanese New Year were celebrated on the first day of the year on the modern Tenpō calendar, the last official lunisolar calendar.
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the northern winter solstice. In contrast, cultures and religions that observe a lunisolar or lunar calendar celebrate their Lunar New Year at varying points relative to the solar year.
The Eskaleut, Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent, and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of what are now the United States (Alaska); Canada including Nunavut, Northwest Territories, northern Quebec (Nunavik), and northern Labrador (Nunatsiavut); Greenland; and the Russian Far East. The language family is also known as Eskaleutian, or Eskaleutic.
Chinese New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or, informally but more widely, lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendars follow the lunar phase while lunisolar calendars follow both the lunar phase and the time of the solar year. The event is celebrated by numerous cultures in various ways at diverse dates.
Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits, are a Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far northeast of the Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. They speak Central Siberian Yupik, a Yupik language of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.
The Inuit Circumpolar Council is a multinational non-governmental organization (NGO) and Indigenous Peoples' Organization (IPO) representing the 180,000 Inuit and Yupik people living in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and the Chukchi Peninsula. ICC was accredited by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and was granted special consultative status at the United Nations in 1983.
The Mongolian Lunar New Year, commonly known as Tsagaan Sar, is the first day of the year according to the Mongolian lunisolar calendar. The festival of the Lunar New Year is celebrated by Mongolic and some Turkic peoples. The holiday has shamanistic influences.
An ulu is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and Aleut women. It is used in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cutting food, and sometimes even trimming blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo. They are widely sold as souvenirs in Alaska.
Traditional Alaskan Native religion involves mediation between people and spirits, souls, and other immortal beings. Such beliefs and practices were once widespread among Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, and Northwest Coastal Indian cultures, but today are less common. They were already in decline among many groups when the first major ethnological research was done. For example, at the end of the 19th century, Sagdloq, the last medicine man among what were then called in English, "Polar Eskimos", died; he was believed to be able to travel to the sky and under the sea, and was also known for using ventriloquism and sleight-of-hand.
Sirenik or Sireniki are former speakers of a divergent Eskimo-Aleut language in Siberia, before its extinction. The total language death of this language means that now the cultural identity of Sirenik Eskimos is maintained through other aspects: slight dialectal difference in the adopted Siberian Yupik language; sense of place, including appreciation of the antiquity of their settlement Sirenik.
Circumpolar peoples and Arctic peoples are umbrella terms for the various indigenous peoples of the Arctic region.
Inuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
The qulliq or kudlik, is the traditional oil lamp used by many circumpolar peoples, including the Inuit, the Chukchi and the Yupik peoples. The fuel is seal-oil or blubber, and the lamp is made of soapstone. A qulliq is lit with a stick called a taqqut.
The term Mongolian calendar refers to a number of different calendars, the oldest of which was a solar calendar. The beginning of the year was autumn. The year was divided into 4 seasons. The seasons begin at the equinoxes and the solstices of the sun. This calculation was changed in 1211, and the new year was celebrated in the spring. Spring began on March 22.
Quviasukvik, is the first day of the year according to Inuit. The festival of the New Year is celebrated by Inuit, Yupik, Aleuts, Chukchi, NunatuKavummiut and the Iñupiat. The feast originally derives from traditional Inuit religion but in modern times, it has Christian influences.
