Setsubun or "Bean Throwing Day"

Setsubun or "Bean Throwing Day"

February 3rd is 節分の日(setsu-bun) in Japan.  It is similar to Spain's tomato throwing food fight, but with roasted soybeans. Yes, there is a celebration to have a huge food fight at a holy site. No, I do not claim to understand why it would be a shrine, but it is. 

 

Setsubun is a traditional ceremony (not an official holiday off of work) that happens right before
 立春(rish-shyun), which is the first day of Spring which is February 4th.

  The kanji's 節分(setsu-bun) literally means "Split the Season". The Japanese celebrating leaving Winter and moving into Spring. It still feels like Winter across most of Japan, but alas it is the official start of Spring so they do it on the day. The culture likes to follow the rules.

A few activities or rituals are performed on this day. The most popular one is held at shrines all over Japan. It is known as  豆撒き(mame-ma-ki)... or bean throwing to us English speaking folks.

 

It is said that on the day the season changes evil arises and demons bring bad luck. But thanks to good 'ol soy beans you too can ward off evil spirits.   Some people (I am not sure who gets picked for this task or why), but some people wear the evil demon "ogre" masks, while everyone else throws roasted soybeans at them. Seriously, who would volunteer to be the Demon? Wait a second, I can think of a few people who would probably enjoy this part.

Anyway, people don't only throw the beans. You also are supposed to eat as many beans as you are old to ward off the evil spirits. And, you get those beans off of the floor after people throw them at the demons. I'm kidding. There are bags of beans for sale that you eat. The Japanese are amazingly clean and would not eat off the dirty floor.

 

When throwing the beans you  yell "鬼は外！福は内" which means "Demons Out! Luck In!" It sounds like, "oni wa soto; fuku wa uchi". I never could copy what they were saying. I had to look it up.

The celebration is so popular it has it's own KitKat and Aero bars! The KitKat is roasted soybean and dark chocolate. No, I didn't buy them only because I was out of Yen :(  I would have made someone in this house try it! 

Some shrines get really into the festivities. They bring in celebrities or sumo wrestlers to throw the beans. There is also candy and money thrown at certain shrines.  It is basically just a huge party to celebrate the changing of seasons.

On Setsubun, there is also a traditional food eaten in a certain way. (Of course there is! In American we eat cabbage and black-eyed peas on New Year's, turkey on Thanksgiving and ham at Easter. Why would other countries not have a special food on certain holidays?) In Japan, it is customary to eat "ehou-maki" on Setsubun. This is a large, uncut sushi roll with certain fillings based on the area in which you live. Here around Tokyo, the roll is filled with avocado, crab, fried egg... And several other options. As long as it has seven fillings. 

 

But there is another way of celebrating setsubun no hi, and that’s with a big, long, uncut sushi roll called ehou-maki. There are several rules to the ehou-maki that I found interesting.

This made me react in So, what makes an ehou-maki different from a regular sushi roll? There are basically three rules:

• It must contain seven ingredients, because seven is a lucky number.
• It must not be cut, because it might cut (off) your luck.
• You have to eat it while facing the lucky direction, which changes every year! This year’s lucky directly is hinoe (丙 (ひのえ)), which is a little bit to the south of south-south-east on a regular compass. If you can read kanji, this page has a good chart.
• Finally, you must eat the whole roll in total silence!

Well, never mind this whole celebration. If that WHOLE thing has to be eaten in
TOTAL SILENCE, this family is hosed. We will never be able to accomplish that!

A final way of celebrating setsubun no hi is to take a nice long relaxing bath, with some slices of yuzu in the water. Bathing in hot yuzu-infused water is supposed to get rid of bad spirits. Yuzu is basically a blend of an orange and an tangerine, if I am reading the translation correctly.

In Japan you can get bath essences with yuzu oil. I forgot to grab those when I was out shopping locally this week, so I'm just cutting up some oranges and throwing them in my bathwater.  Hey, any excuse to take some alone time in a hot bath works for me!

 

You can see why today is a great day in Japan. It has always been a great day in my family. It is my baby brother's birthday! He is pretty much the typical "baby of the family": spoiled, funny, know-it-all and tells all our secrets. He is much more than just that though. He is dedicated and strong, hard-working and caring. We adore him everyday, but on this date, we say an extra special prayer of thanksgiving for him being in our lives. Happy Birthday Uncle Ryan. May all  your dreams come true!

 

Until next time, enjoy the "split of the seasons" and love on each other without throwing beans please!

 

Living the Life,

~Aggie Amy