December 26, 2009
Source: Honolulu Star Bulletin
http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20091226_buddhists_to_mark_new_year_with_rituals.html
The new year will be greeted with quiet spiritual rituals in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines Thursday night.
Buddhists will strike temple bells 108 times at midnight in a rite of reflection about leaving the bad behind and moving forward with hope for the future.
"Ringing the bell is a symbolic eradication of negative karma one has accumulated during the past year," said Bishop Shugen Komogata, of Soto Mission of Hawaii. "We let go of the negative things as the sound of the bell disappears."