Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Setsubun


Today, February 3 is Setsubun. This is one of Japanese Culture. 

What is Setsubun???

Setsubun is the day before the first day of Spring. This is associated with Lunar New Year, so today will be sort of New Year's Eve for spring. Setsubun means also to clean away all the evil of the year and drive away disease-bringing evil sprits for the year to come. For cleaning away all the evil and drive away evil sprits, we will do Mamemaki (Bean Scattering). We will say "Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi", and it is means that "Demon out, Luck in". We also need to eat roasted soy-beans and eat number of your age plus one for good luck and happiness. 

Honestly, I did not know that I have to eat the bean for my age plus one, so from this Setsubun, I ate the bean for my age plus one. 

If you do not understand my English explanation for Setsubun, I am so sorry. I will practice my English skills more...

Thank you very much.

2 comments:

  1. Hiromi-chan, thank you for sharing your culture with us! I liked the soy beans, but not as much as Ricky!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know how much Ricky likes this soy bean...he keeps eating soy bean...

    ReplyDelete