◼︎ Spring equinox, often referred to as the first day of spring, arrived on March 20 this year. Come to think about it, the sun is rising earlier these days as winter comes to an end. It’s no wonder it’s getting warmer and warmer.

An equinox is either of the two days, six months apart, when day and night are of equal length.

In Japan, both spring and autumnal equinoxes are celebrated as national holidays. By convention, people usually visit the graves of their deceased family members or ancestors these times of the year.

Equinoxes bring nearly perfect balance of daytime and nighttime. The sun rises from due East and sets in due West. It’s been considered that when the sun sets in due West, this mortal world can connect to the heaven, a place called “Gokuraku-Joudo,” where the deceased live.
That’s why people visit their family graves and pray on these equinoxes.

In terms of traditional food, there is a custom to have sweets called “bota-mochi” on spring equinox, and “ohagi” on autumnal one. Both sweets are basically made of rice, azuki beans, and sugar.

To tell the truth, both “bota-mochi” and “ohagi” are the same food, or very similar ones. We just call the identical food or very similar ones as “bota-mochi” in spring, and as “ohagi” in autumn, associated with their seasonal flower. For “Botan,” which means peony, blooms in spring, and “hagi” or lespedeza is a flower of autumn.

The reason people make use of azuki beans is that in Japan, the red color of azuki beans is considered to ward off evil spirits.


By the way, the following pictures are what “bota-mochi” and “ohagi” look like. Actually, I can’t tell which is which.
As you can see in the pictures, they are basically the same food that are called two different ways depending on the seasons.
However, the texture of the red beans could be a little bit different. One could be paste, and the other could be roughly mashed paste. For that reason, I avoided saying that they are exactly the same just in case.

● Bota-mochi
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%81%BC%E3%81...

● Ohagi
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%81%8A%E3%81...

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