February's holiday: Bean Throwing Festival!

Or 'setsubun' (節分）as its known in Japanese. My dictionary translated it such as 'Bean Throwing Night' or 'Holiday for the end of winter'. If thats the case, its a bit early. On February 3rd, Setsubun is celebrated in homes around the whole of Japan. 

In anticipation of 'spring', rebirth, new life and all that spring jazz, the festival is all about chucking out the bad things and bad luck, devils and demons, and bringing in luck, fortune and happiness. Naturally, the only way this could possibly be done in Japan is by making one of your family members the 'devil' and chasing them around the house, throwing soy beans at them and eventually kicking them out of the house!

Look how with the power of beans, this kid can send the biggest, scariest looking devil running!

This year one of my school's English teacher's homeroom class were going to do it at school too, and I got a chance to take part too. We had two of the kids wear these devil masks, and the rest of the kids got to throw the soy beans at them around the class until sending them out of the class once they had run out of the beans. Whilst throwing, they had to say 'oni wa soto! fuku wa uchi!' which means (Devil out! Happiness in!)

The two little devils of Urushiyama

It was a pretty fun little festival, albeit a little messy (and we got to nibble on a few of the beans before we threw away the rest).

And that, is the end of winter!