February 3, 2015

Setsubun No Hi (節分の日)

Hey all you bloggers. Hope all of you doing fine This year, setsubun no hi (節分の日) falls on the 3rd of February (some years it’s on the 4th). It marks the start of the spring season or risshun (立春) in Japan according to the old lunar calendar. It’s not an official national holiday, but it is celebrated in ways all meant to drive away bad luck and bring in new, good luck. Most of the traditional rituals revolve around beans, because beans are considered to be very lucky. But there is another way of celebrating setsubun no hi, and that’s with a big, long, uncut sushi roll called ehou-maki. Food wise,ehou-maki originally a kansai region thing [I'm not really use to Kansai region since always based in Kanto for work purposed] whereit has become so widespread i think everyone in Japan takes part in it. Supermarkets and convenience stores cash in on this fad with specially made Ehoumaki rolls for sale. Ehoumaki kinda look like normal sushi rolls except there is always 7 ingredients in them. 7 being a lucky number. [Sometimes its 8 ingredients too. which is also a lucky number] There are some rules in how you consume them though..such as…you must never never cut them and you must eat it in the lucky direction of the year. Oh and you should not make any noise or talk whilst eating this sushi roll. Do you celebrate Setsubun? is there something similar where you are from? Do share! XOXO C.T