Setsubun literally means ”seasonal division” is a festival held on February 3 which is one day before the start of spring according to the Japanes lunar calender and it is not a national holiday. For many centuries, the people of Japan have been performing rituals with the purpose of chasing away evil spirits at the start of spring. Around the 13th century which is a long past, it became a custom to drive away evil spirits by the strong smell of burning dried sardine heads, the smoke of burning wood and the noise of drums. However while this custom is not popular anymore, a few people are still decorate their house entrances with fish heads and holy tree leaves in order to deter evil spirits from entering.
In modern days, the most commonly performed setsubun ritual is the throwing of roasted beans around one’s house and at temples and shrines across the country. When throwing the beans, you are supposed to shout “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” which means “Devils out, happiness in”. Afterwards you should pick up and eat the number of beans, which corresponds to your age. This special ritual is called mamemaki ( Bean Scattering )
And yesterday my school is having a special event for this festival where our class teacher bought some of the beans and tell us to eat while waiting the Eho-maki, Iri-mame and Oni (demon) Mask to come to our classes and threw it towards them. our teacher asked us to shout this sentences “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” while throwing at them. LULZ!
It is said that 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 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. From the above pictures, when the demons came to our classroom, we threw at them with the beans that we had and then the demons are run for their life away. LULZ!
From the background of the pictures, you can see both girls which I wrote on my previous article about My friend place.
This is the bean that I’m talking about.
On my way home, I can see alot of stall that are selling this sushi rolls ( Makizushi ). which is available just for this day.
I bought one from one of the stall that locates near the convenient store. 380 Yen for one.
I got a lucky 5 Yen Coin from the stall which is tied with gold paper. It is consider as a good luck item for the year to come.
This is what it looks like.The proper way to eat this Setsubun dinner is to face a certain direction, this year it was south-east, and eat the entire sushi roll without stopping. Don’t speak, just make your wish! This takes longer than you might think, so you have time to wish for a lot. LULZ!
Might chok yourself up if you follow according to the rules. ^^;;
The inside of this sushi rolls is wrapped with eggs and vagetables which taste quite delicious. The Japanese really do put lots of energy and effort into making them up.
