Here I will share one Japanese food tradition that is held on January 7th.
There is a series of annual celebrations known as the five seasonal ceremonies that are traditionally held in Japan. The origin is in an ancient Chinese practice.
The first ceremony, which is no longer an official one, is on January 7th. That morning people have rice porridge with seven spring herbs in the hopes of having good health.
According to a story in old literature, said to date from the 15th to 16th century, only one bite of the dish will make you ten years younger. In the story, a man fed it to his 100+-year-old parents who were not feeling well, and it immediately made them younger.
Although I had the dish in the evening, I hope it will keep me healthy.
Have a nice day!
So interesting! I've never heard of this before, how cool! I might try this next year too :)
Neat! I didn't know about this--thank you for sharing it. Do you know if the seven herbs are the same across China and Japan?
Thank you all for your comments. The porridge was good. Try it, @Faeza! Thank you for asking, @Janewt. As far as I have heard, even before this custom was established, there was a practice in China to eat soup with seven vegetables on lunar January 7th, and there was a practice in Japan to pick young herbs during the new year. It is believed that this custom which still exists today is a combination of these practices. It is interesting.