冬至

Toji or the winter solstice is the sortest day and longest night of the year.

In Japan, it's on December 22 and  the sun is said to be reborn on this day.

 Since the weather gets colder from this day, the customes associated with toji are to warm up the body and take care of our health, such as eating toji porridge and simmered pumpkin and  taking yuzuyu.

We eat porrige cooked with red azuki beans  and simmered pumpkin in order to ward off colds.

We also have a long soak in yuzuyu,   a hot bath added yuzu, small citrus fruit, to release their aroma.  Yuzu has  a warming effect on the body and helps improve blood circulation. Yuzuyu is  very relaxing and  smells very good.