The final night of the year, when Buddhist temple bells ring 108 times (joya no kane) at midnight, once for each of the 108 worldly desires (bonnō) that cause human suffering. The ringing begins in the old year and ends in the new, purifying the transition. Families eat toshikoshi soba (year-crossing buckwheat noodles), whose long shape symbolizes longevity and whose easy breakability represents cutting ties with the hardships of the passing year. Shrines prepare for the midnight rush of hatsumode visitors, and the entire nation transitions from the Buddhist purification of Ōmisoka to the Shinto celebration of Shōgatsu in a single seamless night.