housecleaning; cleaning dust and soot from rooms
General cleaning of a house, especially removing dust and soot. Can be used for ordinary cleaning, not only the year-end tradition.
We did a thorough housecleaning at the end of the year.
Cleaning soot and dust in an old house is hard work.
year-end big house cleaning; traditional December 13th cleaning
Specifically refers to the traditional Japanese custom of a major house cleaning done on December 13th (or around that time) to welcome the New Year. Often associated with preparing for the New Year deities.
See also: 煤掃き
In Japan, December 13th is sometimes called 'Susuharai Day'.
In the old days, people started preparing for the New Year after doing the susuharai cleaning.
Standard kanji spelling. 煤 means soot, and 払い means sweeping away.
Mixed kanji-kana spelling, common in everyday writing.
Compound of 煤 (すす, soot) and 払い (はらい, sweeping away), from the verb 払う (はらう, to sweep away). The word originally referred to the act of removing soot from traditional Japanese homes, especially before the New Year.