Setsubun


Setsubun was celebrated this weekend here in Japan.  Setsubun literally means "sectional separation" or "seasonal division".  It is celebrated on the day before spring according to Japan's lunar calendar.  There is a lot of history around setsubun, although it is not a national holiday.  Basically, Japanese people do a ritual to chase away the devil, evil spirits, or ogres called Oni.  In the distant past this was done by burning dried sardine heads and wood - the smoke was thought to chase away the spirits.  Drums were also played.  People do not do this much anymore from what I am told - thank goodness.  Smelly!  Today, people throw roasted beans around their houses  while yelling, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" This translates to "Devils out! Happiness in!" or "Get out Ogre!  Come in Happiness!"  Afterwards you are supposed to collect and eat the number of beans that corresponds to your age.  That is a lot of roasted beans for some of us...

At my school we celebrated setsubun with our kids.  Each student in the school made an ogre mask, the scarier the better.  We all went into the school gym with little paper boxes of roasted beans (soy beans) and waited for the ogre to make an entrance.  We had two ogres who ran in and jumped around, yelling and acting scary.  The kids all threw beans at the ogres - thousands of them.  It was fun for most of the kids but a few of my little 4 year olds and many of the 3 year olds didn't enjoy it much - lots of tears!  I guess the ogres were a little too scary!  We also followed the tradition of eating the beans - but not off the floor.  We gave the kids clean beans.

Here are a few pics to enjoy.  It was fun!

Roasted beans to throw and eat!
Scary Ogres!



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