JAPANESE FIRST BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS | ERABI TORI
October 25, 2021
Erabi tori, or choose and take, originated in China and is called Zhuazhou. In this tradition, parents lay out a variety of auspicious items in front of the newly one year old. Whichever item the one year old touches and plays with first is indicative of the child's future career or personality.
Some of the most common items to lay out in front of the baby are book, ruler, brush pen, hammer, drum, calculator, and so on.
Nowadays, there is a lucrative business in selling erabi tori cards. These cards can have elaborate and aesthetically pleasing illustrations and designs. If you are technically inclined, you can also download or design your own right from the comfort of your own home. Using erabi tori cards allow parents to keep them as a keepsake. In our case, we used a set of cards that came with our isshou mochi set.
The set came with eight cards; Mirror (good fashion sense), balloons (travel the world), money (rich), alcohol (sociable), book (smart), rice ball (always have food), sports (athlete), computer (IT).
Can you guess which one(s) she picked!? We were of course hoping for books, balloons, or money, but she literally chose the one we hoped she wouldn't, which was お酒 (alcohol)! And then she crumpled up the money card soon after. Oh, boy!
I am not a drinker, and my husband can only handle a glass of wine before he is tipsy. Nevertheless, we can already see our daughter being the life of the party, so we are excited to see where her life takes her and if there is a hint of truth to these cards!
If you're interested in celebrating your baby's first birthday with erabi tori, you can print out a free set at Arch Days, one of my favorite sites!
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