Before the 7th of the New Year, at a nursery school in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, kindergarten children helped cook and ate nanakusa porridge to pray for good health for the year ahead.
At Matsukaze Nursery School in Himeji City, children between the ages of 3 and 5 learn about Nanakusa porridge every year so that they can familiarize themselves with traditional Japanese events.
Approximately 40 kindergarten children first watched the seven spring herbs and received an explanation from a nursery teacher about the old custom that "if you eat porridge at the beginning of the year, you can spend the whole year in good spirits."
After this, they picked turnips, which are ``suzuna'', and daikon radish, which are ``suzushiro'', which they had grown on the premises of the kindergarten. .
When the hot nanakusa porridge was ready, the kindergarteners would taste it little by little with spoons.
Some children were eating Nanakusa porridge for the first time, and they said, "It's bitter, but if you eat it properly, you'll get better."
Yoshitoshi Nagai, the principal of Shofu Nursery School, said, "I don't have many opportunities to eat Nanakusa Gayu at home these days, so I want my children to be exposed to Japanese culture from a young age. I want my children to grow up healthy and lively." rice field.