And so in January-- of course, New Year's Day, we renew all the decorations, so old ones we carry old ones to the shrine, which is always waiting for those things. Old, old small shrines, or stone deity called dosojin. Most of the days we do not know even there is dosojin. But on New Year's Day, or from New Year's Day to January 14th, old symbols and ornaments will be there. People, you know, take them to the old shrines. So at that time, we realize that, “Oh, here is shrine.” On January 14th we make pretty big shrine, maybe six feet high, with straw. And when it is dark, we set fire on it and burn it. And people-- children come with rice, rice balls. Rice ball is made on New Year's Day and we put it on the branches of the tree and we decorate it in front of altar. -- Shunryu Suzuki lecture 71-07-29. See shunryusuzuki.com.
DC comment: There's all sorts of old stuff burned in that bonfire including a record of bad deeds.
