Yesterday, February 2nd, was Setsubun in Japan. It's usually held on February 3rd, but this year was irregular. Setsubun makes the change of seasons, so officially, it's now spring! We celebrate this day in a unique way.
Ancient Japanese people were very superstitious and believed in oni (evil spirits)'s existence. They thought that when a new season arrived, oni would bring disasters like illness or natural calamities. They threw beans at them to fight against. They also placed stinky sardine head on a brunch of holly and put it at their front doors. Oni disliked the smell (it's a similar idea like vampires hate garlic and crosses), so they would stay away from the house.
Even today, we continue this tradition by throwing roasted soybeans. When we throw them, we chant, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!", which means, "Evil out! Fortune in!" My husband and I threw beans this year too. Since our black lab loves the beans, as soon as we threw them, she dashed to the direction to eat them up! Fortunately, I didn't need to vacuum, lol.
After that, we eat the number of beans equal to our age plus one more for good luck.
Another tradition is eating a special sushi roll called ehōmaki. There’s a rule when eating it: we must face the "lucky direction" of the year (which changes annually) and eat the entire roll without speaking. This brings good fortune to us, so I prepared ehōmaki this year as well. Although we normally have sardine, this year we had a different kind of fish.
This tradition is deeply rooted in Japanese culture, so most families follow it every year.
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It's interesting that you say, people used to believe in evil spirits, yet you also say that people follow these customs. Looking in from the outside it seems that in fact you still hold these beliefs deep in your culture....
Thank you for reading and commenting on my post! My American friend said the exact same thing as what you wrote here. He said it seems like we still believe in evil spirits. I think we’re influenced by the Setsubun market, just like you are by the Christmas market. When we go shopping, we see Setsubun displays and advertisements for sushi rolls. So, how can we avoid it?
That's an extremely interesting comment. In fact it seems that shop keepers drive so many things, Halloween is another example. Christmas markets are in fact nothing to do with Christmas but a commercial opportunity. I know of two situations where people decided that they didn't want to give in to this. People started a new thing, there are people who have parties on Halloween called light parties - to emphasise the light and help young people not be drawn into the, even made fun, evil things that are for sale. Other people have non fire parties instead of bon fire night - which you may have heard of though it's a very British tradition.
Thank you for your comment. I think Valentine's Day is also influenced by the market. I didn’t know there were people who opposed these holidays, so reading your comment was fascinating! Thank you for sharing.
Even though we are influenced by commercialization, I still appreciate that we have such unique traditions in Japan.
Yumi @yumiyumayume : In Spain, we celebrate the feast of Candlemas and Saint Blaise on 2 and 3 February. It has the same spirit of change of season.
As far as I can see, in Setsubun, soy beans are thrown and phrases are recited to ward off demons and bring good luck. In Spain, on the other hand, foods are blessed, such as the famous San Blas doughnuts, which are believed to protect against throat diseases.
@druida Thank you for sharing! I looked up the doughnuts, and they look delicious! It's really interesting that both your country and mine believe people are more likely to get sick when the seasons change. Even though our traditions are different, they are based on a similar idea.