Setsubun 節分 is the last day of winter in the Japanese calendar, falling on February the 3rd this year. I had heard of the festival before but didn’t know what you actually did until my housemate explained it to me. The first time she explained it she said that we had to run around the house throwing beans at each other. Since I’d never heard of this I thought she was making it up and trying to play a trick on me. It turns out she was joking after all. What actually happens is that someone first puts on an Oni (demon) mask and then they run around the house while everyone else chases after them and throws beans at the demon. As you chase the Oni out of the house you shout Oni ha soto! Fuku ha uchi! (Demon out! Good luck in!). Since there were four of us we teamed up and took turns wearing the masks and throwing beans to purify the house.
After chasing the demons outside and slamming the door you have to eat the same number of beans as your age (obviously not the beans that you’ve just thrown all over the house) for good luck. Next you face a specific direction, this year it was East North East and eat a long roll of sushi all in one go without talking. This meant that the four of us had a very strange evening meal as we ended up staring at the wall in complete silence while eating sushi. However, I am assured good luck and strength for the rest of the year so it was probably worth it.
I much prefer running around throwing beans to carrying massive pieces of heavy wood on my shoulder for several hours. In my book that makes it a good festival to follow and look forward to it again next year.
Demon masks and sushi rolls.
Scary Demons.
Banished Demons.
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