Today is Setsubun in Japan! Setsubun is called "Bean-Throwing Festival" in English, though it literally means "seasonal division". It is celebrated the day before the first day of Spring, on February 3rd.

All I knew about Setsubun is that some people wear oni (demon) masks, and other chase them away, throwing beans at them. So I went to a friend of mine called Wikipedia and read up on the significance of this festival day. (Thank you Wikipedia!) Wiki tells us that " 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 (literally "bean throwing"). Setsubun has its origins in tsuina, a Chinese custom introduced to Japan in the eighth century."

There are celebrations and rituals at the various temples and shrines. It sounds like many other things are thrown in addition to soybeans (things like candy, money, and so on). Most people go to a ceremony at one of these shrines or temples now, but there was a time when families more often celebrated at home. A member of the family would wear the oni mask, and the others would thrown the beans out of the house at them while yelling "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (Demons out! Luck in!). Then they slammed the door.

In many cultures, the New Year is thought to be a time when the spirit world draws closer to the physical world, so since this was thought of as a sort of New Year Eve, we can see where warding off spirits comes into the picture. The oni seems to represent evil spirits, bad luck, illness, and other general things people don't want around. The soybeans are also known as "fortune beans". Throwing them at the "oni" symbolizes purifying the home. (Simply throwing them out the door works too.)

I had beans in school lunch twice this week, and both packages had cute little onis printed on them. Many kids mimed doing mamemaki (throwing the beans), and I heard some saying the ritual phrase to send bad luck away. It was very cute. Wiki says it's customary to eat rosted soybeans in order to hep bring luck in. You eat one for each year of your life. Sometimes you eat one more to bring good luck for the year to come.

child with fukumame chasing an oni

There are other historical and cultural practices, and these things vary from region to region. This seems to be the general idea of Setubun though, so I wanted to share a little of what I learned about it this week. Happy Setsubun!

On a few random notes:

I tried a food called Arare a week ago. A teacher at Samukawa Elementary brought in a homemade batch of it to share with everyone. Arare is fried mochi flavored with soy sauce. It is bite-sized, and actually reminded me of popcorn. Unlike popcorn, I imagine it's healthier, and it doesn't make my stomach hurt. I now really like arare! I need to look for some, and hope it tastes almost as good store-bought.

This has been the coldest winter in Oyama in 7 years.

There is a bit of an influenza scare at many of the schools currently. Especially the big schools.  At Ooya Higashi Elementary, everyone was told to wear a mask all day at school. (Remember those masks I posted about a while back?) In addition, we were advised to wash our hands between every class, which has my hands rather dry. Lucily, I haven't gotten sick, other than a bit of a cough I've had for a few weeks now. I imagine that will disappear as it warms up though.

Next week I sign a contract for the next year of school We're looking forward to another year in Japan!!