[Culture]June 1st/The day of ICE

Happy Ice Day[June 1st]! . Its origin dates back to the Muromachi period, about 500 years ago.

At that time, summer ice was quite precious and could only be obtained by a few privileged people, such as nobles and emperors. The first day of the sixth lunar month was called "Ice Festival" or "First Day of the Ice Season," and it was said that if you sipped ice from Himuro,氷室; the ice house on the first day, you would pass the summer in good health.

As far back as the Heian period (794-1185), every year on this day, people in the imperial palace would walk hundreds of miles on foot to get ice from the ice house to ward off the heat.

In those days, of course, there were no freezers. Then how did they get ice? People build a hut in a cool cave or hole in the mountains to store the natural ice from lakes during the cold season.

Now let's talk about Minazuki 水無月[meaning June], the Japanese confectionery in the photo. The ordinary people who couldn't get real ice used to make sweets in the shape of ice and eat them as an alternative.

It is said that azuki beans on Minazuki have the meaning of warding off evil spirits, and the triangular shape expresses ice beating the heat away.

Well, long enough to say, it is June, the month when the real ice season begins.

The first pop-up of the month will be on Sunday the 6th at 1:00!

The rest of the month's schedule will be announced soon.