Why the bonfire?
あの焚火はなんですか？
bonfire: 焚火
Now that you've finished another fantastic New Year's holiday of boozing, gorging and binge-watching TV shows - all while the dishes and empty beer cans piled up - you need to set yourself up for a painful reentry to work.
boozing: 浴びるほど飲む
binge-watching: 複数回シリーズのコンテンツをまとめてみるような視聴方法。
Time to throw away the beer cans and pizza boxes and hoover the house.
hoover: 電気掃除器を作っているメーカー。掃除するという動詞として使われている。
Ah, but don't go tossing your auspicious New Year's goods into the bin - you have to give them a respectful farewell.
auspicious: めでたい、吉兆の
The right way to do that is to take them to a dondo yaki and have them burned. Every year around mid-january, these traditional bonfire light up across japan at parks, rice fields, shrines and riversides.
shrine: 神社
(中略)
Once the fire dies down, people use the embers to cook mochi rice cakes and satsuma mandarins on skewers. Eating these is said to keep one healthy for the year.
ember: もえさし
satsuma mandarin: 温州ミカン
skewer: くし
地元では河原でどんど焼きが行われていました。私は燃やしたものに含まれる有害物質が気になって、あまり食べたいとは思えません（汗）
