A Traditional Japanese Sweets For Equinoctial Weeks With Two Names

March 20th was the Spring Equinox Day. Traditionally, the seven days including the Equinox Day in both spring and fall are named “Ohigan Week”. The direct translation of “Ohigan” is “the other shore”, it means “the world of the dead”. For this year, 2016, "Ohigan Week" started on March 17th and ended March 23rd.

In Japanese traditional custom, it is a week for people to visit their family graves or to pray for their deceased family/ancestors at home. When families get together during this week in March to visit graves or to pray for their ancestors at home, one kind of traditional sweets(in the left photo) is usually prepared. 

Commonly, it has three kinds of flavors, which are sweet sesame, sweet soy powder(Kinako), and sweet mashed red beans(Anko). It’s not a spring seasonal sweets, because it is also served during the Fall Equinoctial Week.

However these sweets do have seasonal names. It is a unique feature, as it changes the name for the other season. In spring, it is usually called “Botamochi” and it is said that the name represents Botan-flower(Peony flower) which is a popular spring flower shown in the upper right hand side photo. On the other hand, in fall it is usually called “Ohagi” and the name came from Hagi-flower(Japanese bush clover), which is a typical fall flower in Japan and it is shown in the lower right hand side photo.

Nowadays not all Japanese people change the name according to the season, but I think it is a nice way to keep the sense of the season.