New Year First Pilgrimage
This is a significant event for every one. For some, it is a very spiritual rite, and in many cases, the occasion to make a wish more than making an offering. In others, the New Year is a day of feasting. Certainly that is the focus for Ikaruga.
As you can see, you will be given three options for your wish for the New Year. This shows the First Pilgrimage with Kai.
I originally thoight the best option would be the first. Perhaps it is but you gain no reward for that one and usually a reward indicates something positive.
When I chose the third option, he was very pleased and gave me an Amethyst as reward to help me achieve my goal. (Some of the superior Weapons and armour require an Amethyst.)
I chose the second option as a test today, with no intention of saving the result, thinking it was added in jest. I should have known Kai better! He is some one who accepts others as they are ultimately. He became enthusiastic instantly:
And there it is again... one of his favourite expressions. I hear it every night when I come to the table... the phrase reeks of the barracks, but there is my wonderful Kai, absolutely incapable of paying off his tab, but generous to a fault. We are married here so the leftovers will be shared but if I were single, he still would give them to me like the great hunks of raw meat that are among the most expensive items in Azuma but given by Kai constantly to reciprocate when I give him a gift.
A video of this:
I always follow Woolby's advice to the letter where this Festival is concerned. I devote both the 30th of Winter and 1st of Spring to a 'meet and greet' with every one in Azuma, including the villagers. Even if I only choose 'chat', finding and exchanging New Year greetings takes most of the day.
This old man who runs the Summer Izakaya has a lot of conversation to share.
Even my daughter spoke of her hopes for the New Year:
What is rather ironic is that, when you see her out and about on the last day of Winter, she will say:
And yet that morning, I had the option of asking her to visit a Shrine with me and she did not enjoy that at all!
When you are married, you only have the option to invite your spouse to accompany you on the Pilgrimage to the Shrine. Although your partner will be standing there waiting for a few hours, it is only at 10.00 a.m. that the announcement occurs and you can initiate the event.
It is beginning to appear to me that there are no bad choices for the New Year Wish. The one that has the most romantic significance usually will be the one that carries no tangible Reward but your partner will not be unhappy if you choose it. The wish that concerns food or cooking usually will result in a gift of ingredients. I just attended it with Mauro and although he was pleased that I wished to have more adventures with him, when my wish involved cooking, he gave me some ingredients to use: Tofu, Preserved Bonito and Steamed Rice. It was the wish to gain more strength for future adventures with him, however, that gave me a valuable reward in the form of a Yellow Core. As these are rare, I saved this result although I liked the event outcome for the first choice where we declare we share the same passions.
This experience with the three wishes that were offered follows precisely the same themes as those with Kai.
As I do every year and did yesterday as well, I meet and greet every one. I found Yachiyo seated on one of the open benches outside her establishment.
