Setsubun

Setsubun (節分, Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony is the day before the beginning of each season in Japan. The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival (春祭, haru matsuri). In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (豆撒き, lit. bean throwing).

Mamemaki (Bean-Throwing) is usually performed by the male head of the household. Roasted soybeans (called fuku mame (福豆) are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing a demon mask, while the throwers chant "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (鬼は外! 福は内!)^. The words roughly translate to "Demons out! Luck in!" The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat roasted soybeans, one for each year of one's life, and in some areas, one for each year of one's life plus one more for bringing good luck for the year to come.

I stole the above description from Wikipedia, but this holiday was last Wednesday when I meet with one of my student, Yuki. Yuki is 24 and speaks fabulous English, so we mostly just get together and chat about her upcoming wedding so I use the term "student" loosely. Anyways, Yuki brought me a small envelope seen in the picture above and explained Setsubun to me. I always find Japanese traditions so interesting because they make so little sense sometimes. Let's throw beans! Why not? But then again, we say a fat man comes down our chimney, right? That makes no sense either.

So I was really excited when Yuki gave me some of the fuku mame beans and a demon mask. I tried to get Glenn to wear the mask, but he refused to participate so I had to wear it. I'm trying to be demon-like, can't you tell?

I didn't throw any beans, but I did eat 27 of them. They tasked mostly like a plain nut to me. Not so much like soy beans. Stella was a fan too, she got 4. Here's to a lucky year!