Culture Class: Holidays in Japan S1 #13 - Boys' Festival
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はい、ジャパニーズポッド 101 でございます。 コントロール コントロール コントロール Culture Class Holidays in Japan Season 1 Lesson 13 Boys Festival Hello and welcome to the Culture Class Holidays in Japan series on JapanesePod101.com. In this series, we're exploring the traditions behind Japanese holidays and observances. I'm Becky, and you're listening to Season 1 Lesson 13 Boys Festival.

The Boys Festival, or 単語の節句, is an annual event held on May 5th. It began when the Chinese custom of exercising evil spirits with herbs arrived in Japan. In Japan, it has been celebrated since ancient times as a traditional event to pray for the healthy growth of boys.

These days, it's a national holiday in Japan that is also known as Children's Day, and not only boys, but also girls participate in the celebration. Now, before we go into more detail, do you know the answer to this question? There is a special flower for the Boys' Festival, just like there is for Hinamatsuri, or Dolls' Festival. Which flower do you think it is? If you don't already know, you'll find out a bit later. Keep listening.

As Boys Festival on May 5th approaches, the exteriors of houses, verandas, and parks are decorated with carp streamers. These streamers are made in the shape of a carp fish called koi in Japanese. An old Chinese tale tells of a koi that appeared to have climbed a dangerous river known as tōryū.

This koi then became a dragon. From this story, koi streamers came to be used as decorations to express wishes for children to become mighty. Usually, koi of various sizes are used to represent an entire family, with the largest koi said to be the father, the next largest the mother, and the smaller koi the children.

Also, the insides of homes are decorated with armor and helmets. In ancient times, when "samurai" would fight, they would wear helmets and armor to protect themselves. Helmets and armor became decorations from this tradition because they were said to protect the boy's body. There is also a doll called a "Gogatsu-ningyo," meaning "May Doll."

Typically, these are boys dressed as samurai and kintaro or the golden boy with diamond-shaped aprons. Kashiwamochi is eaten during the boys' festival. Kashiwamochi is a sweet made by stuffing rice cakes with bean paste and wrapping the cakes in oak leaves. The old leaves of kashiwa, meaning oak tree, do not fall until new leaves appear.

Thus, oak leaves eaten with kashiwa mochi express the desire that the family tree will continue forever. Or in other words, there will be prosperity for their descendants. Here's our fun fact for the day. Did you know that some regions also eat "chimaki" for the Boys' Festival? Chimaki is a food derived from China and is made by wrapping steamed glutinous rice with leaves such as bamboo grass.

Now it's time to answer our quiz question. What's the special flower for this holiday? The correct answer is the iris. The leaves of the iris have a strong fragrance. People in ancient China believe that this fragrance exercised evil spirits. Placing iris leaves into baths for health and into sake for drinking formed the beginnings of the Boys Festival.

These days, families also take baths called 勝負湯, meaning floating iris leaves. Well, listeners, how was this lesson? Did you learn something new? In your country, do you celebrate the growth of boys? Please leave us a comment telling us at JapanesePod101.com. And we'll see you next time!