Spring equinox
Description:
The day of the vernal equinox is the first spring holiday in Japan, which, surprisingly, the Japanese associate not with the unique astronomical phenomenon of the equality of the lengths of day and night, but with the Buddhist ritual holiday Higan going into the depths of history.
But first let’s talk about the spring equinox, as this day is marked in the Japanese calendar. Legislatively, the day for celebration was established in 1948. The exact date of the vernal equinox for the next year is determined by the National Observatory on February 1 of this year, making appropriate celestial measurements and calculations.
According to the “Law on National Holidays” on the spring equinox, the corresponding “natural” meaning is attached: “To exalt nature, cherish living beings.”
The holiday of Higan, the customs of which fill the life of the Japanese in these spring days, immeasurably longer history. The Buddhist term “higan” can be translated as “that shore” or “that world where our ancestors went and where their souls settled.” The days of the Spring Hegan begin on March 18 and include the Spring Equinox Day and three days after the Spring Equinox Day. Before the beginning of Higan, the Japanese carefully clean the house, especially the home altar with photos and accessories of departed ancestors, refresh flowers and put ritual dishes on the altar. In the days of Higan, Japanese families go to worship the graves of their ancestors. After removing the family tomb, washing the stone slab and putting fresh flowers, the Japanese order prayers and perform other ritual honors. Much of the Buddhist concept of Higan has acquired a special meaning in Japan, but the tradition of remembering ancestors remains sacred for the Japanese for many centuries.
In the days of Hegan, a special emphasis is placed on food. Ritual meals are prepared exclusively vegetarian - a reminder of the Buddhist prohibition to kill a living creature and eat the meat of a killed person. The menu is made up of beans, vegetables, mushrooms, root vegetables, broths are also prepared on a plant basis. On the table are necessarily present and festive "inari-sushi", stuffed with a mixture of boiled rice with carrots, mushrooms and beans. The traditional sweets of spring Hegan are “bota moti”. Small rice koloboks (about the size of a chicken egg), covered with red bean paste, cooked with sugar, are sold out especially willingly these days. Many active Buddhist temples for centuries keep special reviews of the preparation of bot-moti and only on the days of spring Higan release a small batch for sale to everyone. Knowing the traditions, the Japanese “hunt” and line up for the exquisite taste and unusual freshness of their favorite delicacy. Every Japanese knows the saying: “Tana kara bota-mochi”, which literally means: “fell like a bot-mochi from the shelf.” So say about unexpected luck or unexpectedly visited happiness. Doesn’t that mean that the Japanese love their rice so much?
It is impossible not to say that at the end of the days of spring Hegan immediately comes the season of luxurious and indescribably beautiful cherry blossoms. This year, the winter in Japan was a record warm and snowless, and therefore forecasters predict that the beginning of cherry blossoms on average will begin 3-7 days earlier than usual. Another week – and the white-pink wave of cherry blossoms will be impossible to stop. Both the Japanese, from small to large, and foreigners living in Japan, and tourists coming from all over the world to look at the unforgettable picture, will continue to noisily celebrate spring.
Higan - accent on the second syllable
**Bota-moti - accent in both words on the first syllable