🌿WHOLESOME HERBS🥣
After all that New Year excess it's time for a hearty porridge to help fortify the body for the year ahead.
For over a thousand years herbs have been gathered, mixed into a rice gruel and consumed on the 7th day of the 1st month as a prayer for health and luck.
##Kyoto #京都 #七草の節句 #Japan #nanakusanosekku
You can find the 7 herbs you need for your rice-congee conveniently packaged at supermarkets.
🌿water dropwort (せり)
🌿shepherd’s purse (なずな/ぺんぺん)
🌿cudweed (ごぎょう)
🌿chickweed (はこべら)
🌿nipplewort (ほとけのざ)
🌿turnip (すずな/かぶ)
🌿daikon (すずしろ・大根)
#Kyoto #京都 #七草の節句 #Japan #nanakusanosekku #daikon #turnip #nipplewort #chickweed #cudweed #waterdropwort #shepherdspurse #7herbsofspring
Atsuko-san is here to show you what the 'nanakusa' (七草 '7 herbs') look like.
In the depths of winter, when frost covered the ground, the 'nanakusa' were some of the only plants still growing. Their lush green colour came to represent hope and renewal.
It was once common to prepare the porridge the night before, chopping the herbs while singing a special song and facing that year's 'lucky direction'.
The dish is eaten as a prayer for health and longevity (in China it was eaten to ward off evil spirits)🥣🌿
The Nanakusa song:
7 herbs, shepherd's purse
before the birds of China fly to Japan,
let's get shepherd's purse
chop-chop-chopping!
chop-chop-chopping!
ななくさ なずな
とうど の とりが
にほん の くにへ
わたらぬ さきに
ストトン トン トン
ストトン トン トン
The herbs are good for you!
🌿Seri (せり) = increases appetite
🌿Nazuna (なずな) = iron rich
🌿Gogyō (ごぎょう) = antipyretic
🌿Hakobera (はこべら) = rich in Vitamin A
🌿Hotokenoza (ほとけのざ) = full of fibre
🌿Suzuna (すずな/かぶ) = vitamin rich
🌿Suzushiro (すずしろ) = promotes digestion
On the eve of Nanakusa-no-sekku a strange ritual once took place.
When the 7 herb porridge was being prepared, the remainder of the shepherd's purse would be steeped in water. The family would soak their fingers in this soup.
For the first time that year fingernails & toenails were cut.
It was believed the protective property of the herb would be transferred, guaranteeing a sick-free year (& safeguarding you from any nail-related accidents).
This odd custom was known as 'nanakusa-zume' (七草爪)😯
An alternative name for the festival is 'Jinjitsu' (人日), which comes from a Chinese tradition of naming days after animals.
The 7th day of the year was called 'human day' (人の日) for it was stipulated that no punishments (or harm to people) could be carried out on this day.
Renri (7th day of Zhengyue, 1st month in the traditional Chinese calendar) was the day human beings were created.
On each of the year's opening days...
1st=🐔Day
2nd=🐶Day
3rd=🐗Day
4th=🐑Day
5th=🐮Day
6th=🐴Day
7th=🧑🤝🧑Day
...it was forbidden to kill the corresponding animals.
Camellia Tea Ceremony