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Japanese Culture
Chuugen
The Japanese love to give gifts. Best-known of Japan's many customary gifts are the chuugen (mid-year gifts) and seibo (year-end gifts) gifts. Both gifts are given to express gratitude to people such as company supervisors, teachers, business clients, go-betweens, doctors, relatives and so on.
From long ago the Japanese have carried the idea of dividing the year into two parts. Chuugen refers to July 15 according to the lunar calendar. With the influence of obon (a Buddhist festival of the dead, it was held around the same time), it became an event for honoring ancestors and celebrating the safety of the first half of the year. The custom of sharing with relatives the items offered to spirits of the dead changed into the current custom exchanging gifts.
Seibo should be sent in the middle of December. Since it expresses gratitude throughout year, it costs some what more than chuugen. People usually say o-chuugen and o-seibo adding the prefix "o" for politeness.
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