The Dog Days of Winter
Monday, December 3rd, 2007
UltraBob and I spent four days last week in Osaka and Kyoto to have some relaxing time alone while our baby is still inside me and quiet 
Osaka is famous for delicious but reasonably priced foods, and I think I ate too much. I might get scolded by my doctor for gaining weight at next week’s appointment.
Some of you may be waiting for the story of the dog day event I mentioned in my last post, and I just realized that it’s already been a month! I actually entered my sixth month of pregnancy today!
I’m sure that the details of the tradition vary depending on where in Japan you or your family is from. My report is based on what my mother and my aunt taught to me.
Just as years go through twelve different animals in the Chinese zodiac, there are zodiac signs for the days in a month. It is a Japanese tradition to wear a maternity belt for the first time and pray for an easy delivery on the dog day of the fifth month of pregnancy. This is because of the easy time dogs apparently have in giving birth to puppies.
Firstly you prepare some sekihan (rice made with red beans, a symbolic food seen in Japanese celebrations) and dango (dumplings with sweet bean paste). You then give these traditional celebratory foods to people you want to announce your pregnancy to. Then as a return of happiness, you’ll get some cotton cloth back from them, and make your own maternity belts with it. Some people visit a shrine (or a temple) to pray and receive a protective charm.
I’m not sure if it is really possible to do all of this in one day though.
I think people these days usually purchase maternity belts from stores and begin wearing them on the dog day of the fifth month. Some still visit a shrine (or a temple) and share celebratory food with family or friends.
On my dog day, my mother prepared the sekihan and dango for us and we shared with some people. My 96-year-old grandma was very excited to hear about the news. UltraBob usually refuses these red-colored foods, but this time he ate with us. My mother wrote a kanji word “
” (meaning “a celebration”) on my belt in red ink, which I guess was part of the tradition, but seemed really strange to me.
This coming Thursday, I’m attending a parenting class for the first time with UltraBob.
I’m looking forward to getting useful information from the class.
Also I’m going to write about more of the Japanese traditions and lore I’ve learned about in my next post. I’m interested to know about Western traditions and lore as well.
Thanks for posting this honey, it is fun to read your writing, and I find these Japanese traditions interesting.
That is SO interesting! I didn’t even know what a maternity belt WAS! I had to google it. Those traditions must be very meaningful.
I am wracking my brain to come up with some western maternity traditions. I think that because, in America, most of us are such a hodgepodge of ethnicity that many of our traditions are more within the family than universal. In some ways, that gives us the freedom to invent or discard, and just do what our whim and expediency dictates. In other ways, I guess, the traditions would be comforting, provide continuity and take away some of the scary sense of the unknown and unfamiliar.
Your celebrations sounds great, and I’m glad Bob participated. I don’t know if dogs always have an easy time giving birth, since I’ve never actually witnessed it. I will ask my dog-raising sisters-in-law.
Now I want to hear more about your vacation!
That is very interesting. I guess we do have a mix of traditions here. One relatively new one that I can think of is the baby shower.
Ah, the baby shower. I had forgotten all bout that. I guess giving gifts after or before the baby is born is a tradition also. And sometimes, churches and/or neighbors might provide meals for a week or two after the baby is born....
Many younger mothers know about baby showers, but few actually do them here I think. Could you explain more about them? Btw, I said we make maternity belts with the cotton cloth we get, but it may actually be diapers.
A baby shower is party thrown by the expectant mother’s family, friends, or even by herself. Female friends and family are invited to it. All the guests bring baby presents that the mother might need. Oftentimes, games are played. The baby shower is typically thrown before the baby is born, but sometimes people have them after the baby is born.
Thanks for this info! Mine is coming up.
I was looking over my husbands shoulder and saw him reading about the maternity belts. This is a custom that I am not used to, but with the baby shower it is where friends and family, give the expecting mothers gifts before the baby is born