節分：Setsubun (Bean-Throwing Festival)

February 3rd was setsubun here in Japan.  Being the last day of winter, it is customary to have a "bean-throwing" ceremony to scare away the evil and wish for luck.  My first experience of the day was when I was handed a bag of "lucky" beans by Mr. Nakamura (the first-year's English teacher) during English class.  Not long after, an oni (demon? devil?  goblin?) showed up to class.  We were supposed to throw the beans at him while shouting "鬼は外！福はうち！”　(roughly translated as "demons out, luck in")  

"lucky" soybeans

The oni stayed long enough for a photo op!

That afternoon, in school lunch, we were given whole sardines and more "lucky" beans -- this time sweetened.  Supposedly, in ancient Japan, it was customary to hang the dead fish outside the entrance of the house to scare away the bad luck.  I can believe it!  The sardines faces were scary enough to keep me away!!!

That night, I was invited by one of the elementary school's teachers to visit an actual Bean-throwing ceremony in a Buddhist temple in a neighboring city.  A very long story short, getting there became an adventure when my entire junior high school got involved and my principal tried to send me to one temple when I was actually supposed to be at another one.   Then due to the weather, my train was early (so I missed it) and the next one was late (so I missed the ceremony ;-(   Oh well!  I still made it to dinner at the teacher's house where we ate makizushi (uncut sushi) in silence while facing the "lucky" direction only to finish with a hearty laugh.   Then we all took turns wearing the oni mask and dashing in and out of the front door while throwing beans at one another. 

eating in silence

pretending to be an oni

AAHHH....I was scared away

the littlest oni

It was so nice to have a chance to enjoy a Japanese festival with a family (a rare occurrence for me!) even if I didn't believe a bit of it.  As someone said at church today, "It takes more than dried beans to scare away the devil!"
 

Oh, and as for the makizushi, I found an amazing variety at the convenience store.

Yep, it was roll cake filled with cream and fresh fruit!!

Definitely my kind of sushi!