Setsubun
or "the day before the beginning of Spring" is celebrated on February 3rd
in Japan. One of the things done on this date is to throw beans at someone
wearing an Oni or demon mask, while
saying Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! (Demons out, Luck
in!)
This
week, two of my English students (actually their mother) brought me these masks
and bag of peanuts in honor of the day. If Ted would wear the Oni mask, I could
throw the peanuts at him.
2 comments:
I frightened my nephew's son by appearing with a demon's mask when he came to throw beans in our quarters. He bombarded me with beans!!!
Do you know why, in more recent times, unshelled peanuts have become popular instead of dried soy beans? The reason is that if you throw the beans outside, you can still pick them up, shell and eat them. Who would want to pick up a soybead from the sodden ground and eat it?
Pamela, You are just having too much fun! I can just see you and your husband running around throwing things at each
other with masks on, too funny!
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