Monday, February 4, 2013

Setsubun 節分 平成25年



Yesterday, it was 3rd February and that means the beginning of the Spring in Japanese tradition. 3 years ago, I already talked about Setsubun 節分 in this blog .


This year, we went to Nezu Jinja with our little son for the so-called mamemaki 豆まき. Some demons dance around doing nasty things and then, some people come with many presents (oranges, rice crackers, peanuts, snacks...) and throw them to the crowd as the demons flee. Some kids bring big bags to try to get as much stuff as possible!



At night, we had a party at home to celebrate setsubun. I wore a demon mask and my nephew, niece and son threw me lots of beans for me to leave as they sang: 鬼は外、福は内。 "Demons go away, Luck come in!"



Afterwards, we ate some large sushi rolls. For the first one, you must face South South East and eat the whole roll without speaking and thinking about your wishes. They will come true by doing that! ;)

Another traditional thing to do is to eat the same number of soy beans as your age. Fortunately, 30 beans is still manageable after a sushi feast!



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

:D lovely

Alvaro said...

Thank you!
By the way, who are you? It shows you as anonymous... :(