It was fine and rather warm today. There was hatsugama (初釜). Hatsugama literally means the first pot, but actually means the first tea ceremony in a year.
It started around 11 AM and finished around 4 PM. It was held at my master's tea room. There were 15 pupils got together. There were 4 different procedures: sumi demae (炭点前), o koicha (お濃茶), kaiseki (懐石), and o usu (お薄). They are charcoal procedure, thick tea procedure, tea-ceremony cuisine, and thin tea procedure.
Before drinking tea, sweets are served. For o koicha omogashi (主菓子), moist sweet is served, and for o usu , o higashi (お干菓子), dry sweet is served.
Since this year is the year of the snake, on the face of o higashi there was a picture of ema (絵馬) of snake (巳：mi). Snake is said to be a messenger of god because they shed their skin which suggests revival and regeneration and they can live without eating, and it is thought to be related with fortune.
After the ceremony, there was a lottery. Fortunately I got one of the prizes, and felt really lucky.
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