Setsubun (SEH-TSU-BOON) is a Japanese holiday that takes place on Feb 3rd, the day before the start of Spring on the old Japanese calendar. It’s not a national holiday, but almost everyone celebrates it. It has some fun traditions that go along with it, particularly one called mamemaki.
Setsubun is a time to clean away all the evil of the former year and to chase away all evil spirits. This is done by mamemaki, or bean scattering. Roasted soybeans are gathered and thrown around the house and out the windows. Why soybeans? Demons can’t stand the smell evidently. When throwing the beans, people call out “Demons out, luck in!”. One old woman tole me that when you throw the beans out the window, you have to be sure to slam the window shut as soon as possible so the evil spirits can’t get back in!
Typically the father of the house will don an Oni mask. An oni is a kind of devil in Japanese mythology. The children all enjoy then pelting him with soybeans!
After this, everyone has to eat their age in soybeans. Easy enough for the kids, but some old people complain to me that it’s tough to eat that many!
Another more recent tradition is for everyone to face a certain direction (changes every year according to the Chinese zodiac) and eat a big and long sushi roll. You aren’t allowed to talk while eating. After you finish, good luck will come to you!! This tradition started in Western Japan (the area around osaka–kansai) but has since spread to most of the country due in no small part to grocery stores and sushi shops who don’t mind selling more sushi rolls every February.
an Oni torturing a poor guy
an oni mask
throwing beans at dad dressed as oni
sushi rolls
