Nanakusa-gayu（七草粥）
Seven Veggie Porridge
In Japan, they enjoy having “nanakusa-gayu” on January 7 as their customs.
What is Nanakusa-gayu?
There are five season festivals per lunar calendar and January 7 is the first season festival in a year. It is called 「人日」; the day of a person when they take a good care of people.
January 7 （人日）
March 3 （上巳）
May 5 （端午）
Julu 7 （七夕）
September 9（重陽）
In the Tang dynasty period in China, they used to have a soup with seven kinds of vegetables and prayed for sound health. This customs came to Japan and matched with the customs of picking up young greens and became the 1st event of season festival.
What are seven vegetables?
芹（seri）
”Seri” sprouts usually compete and are brought up a lot. “Seri katsu” means to win after a tough competition, and it is a kind of word play to bring a luck from the same pronunciation. It is said that seri has effects such as an alleviation of fever effect, a diuretic effect, intestinal regulation action, an appetite increase, the blood pressure descent action.
薺（nazuna）
They wish a cleansing with this veggie and nazuna is effective against detoxification and a diuretic effect, hemostasis action, gastrointestinal dysfunction and swelling
御行（gogyou）
Gogyou is effective in a cough and cold prevention such as a sputum, the sore throat with the meaning of the Buddha body.
繁縷（hakobera）
A word play with hakobera is to spread prosperity. Hakobera is said to be effective against abdominal pain and gastritis, pyorrhea. It is known even that hakobera has abundant vitamin A which is good for eyes.
仏の座（hotokenoza）
Hotokenoza looks like a dandelion with yellow flowers and leaves crawling on the ground. Hotokenoza promotes the health of the stomach and is said to have effects such as a toothache or the appetite increase. It has the meaning of a comfortable seat for the Buddha.
菘（suzuna）
Suzuna is a turnip. The suzu is the same pronunciation of a ring and they wish to call the god. Suzuna contains a lot of vitamin and it is said to fix and promote digestion and to be effective against chilblains and freckles.
蘿蔔（suzushiro）
Suzushiro is another name for daikon (Japanese white radish) . They wish a pure white without stains from daikon color. It is said to be effective for beauty and cold.