菊の香り The Scent of Chrysanthemum
今日９月９日は「重陽（ちょうよう）の節句」です。節句は５つあって、１月１日、３月３日、５月５日、７月７日、９月９日の５つです。もともと中国から伝来した習慣で、奇数は縁起がいいとされるのですが、奇数が重なる日は逆に縁起が悪いため、邪気払いや無病息災を祈る儀式が行われたそうです。
重陽の節句には、主に黄色い菊の花が飾られ、お酒に菊の花を浮かべて飲む習慣がありました。菊の香りにはスーッと清涼感があり、漢方でも血圧を下げる効果があると言われているとか。
黄色い大きな花を眺め、香りを楽しみつつ、お酒を飲む。
香りが心にも体にも効いて、秋の夜長にはぴったりだったのでしょうね。
少し、真似してみたくなりますね。
いろは
Today, the 9th of September, is Chouyou no Sekku — the Chrysanthemum Festival.
There are five sekku in the Japanese calendar: the 1st of January, the 3rd of March, the 5th of May, the 7th of July, and the 9th of September. Originally brought over from China, these dates share a common logic: odd numbers are considered auspicious — but when the same odd number falls on both the day and the month, the energy tips over into something potentially unlucky. And so rituals were performed to ward off misfortune and pray for good health.
For Chouyou no Sekku, the flower is the chrysanthemum — yellow ones in particular. Chrysanthemums were displayed throughout the home, and there was a tradition of floating the petals in sake and drinking it. The scent of chrysanthemum has a cool, refreshing quality — almost mentholated — and in traditional Chinese medicine, it is said to help lower blood pressure.
To sit with a large yellow bloom in front of you, breathing in its fragrance, a cup of chrysanthemum sake in hand — on a long autumn evening, it must have felt like medicine for both body and mind.
I find myself wanting to try it.
Iroha
