Setsubun

In February (ironically, the same day as Groundhog Day), there is a festival here called Setsubun to say goodbye to the demons of winter and prepare for spring. "Setsubun" literally means "dividing the seasons." There are a few traditions involved, and I was lucky enough to have finally made a few Japanese friends who invited me to various events that weekend.

First, they go to a temple and pray for a healthy spring. They throw roasted soy beans at the ground from the front door of their houses, and again later at the temple, shouting "demons out, good fortune in!" (in Japanese of course). Sometimes, people wear demon masks and others throw beans at them. Naomi, a student at my old school invited me to come with her and her son, Kouhei (who is currently my youngest student) to the temple. We had a great time, even though it snowed a little on us.

Another thing you do is eat the same number of dried soy beans as our age plus one. The way they see it, on New Years, everyone becomes one year older. It is consistent with the traditional group mentality of Japan. Individuality is somewhat traditionally frowned upon. So birthdays aren't a huge deal here, except at particular coming-of-age years. They are usually only small nuclear family dinners to celebrate privately. Instead of personal birthdays, everyone conceptually gets older at the same time on Jan. 1st!

So Satoshi (also an ex-student) and his wife Akiko invited me over to their house to eat soy beans and what I like to call "sushirritos" (that's my name for it...not theirs). They are basically sushi rolls that haven't been cut up, so they look like burritos. Each year, you are supposed to face one particular direction and eat the sushirrito in one sitting without speaking or moving. This year is Year of the Rat, so we faced SSW, the direction that supports the Rat. We had a great night talking about music (something I've been missing in my life lately) and eating "nabe," a Japanese stew.

I'm really grateful that I've finally started connecting with Japanese people, getting invited into their homes and to festivals with them. I finally feel respected and accepted. To see the rest of my Setsubn photos, click here.