"Demons out! Luck in!"

 

Today, February 3rd, is the day of a delightful little Japanese festival/custom known as "setsubun (節分)".  It literally means "season partition", because it signifies the end of winter and the start of spring (at least, that's what the calendar likes to think.  There are many more cold weeks ahead!).  But it's perhaps better known as the bean-throwing festival.

It's closest Western relative is Spring Cleaning, only that is a physical clearing of the home, whereas Setsubun is a spiritual one.  The tradition is for a member of the family to adorn the mask of demon (or a full-on suit if they're feeling up for it), and dash around the house while everyone else in the family pelts them with beans.  The beans, called "fukumame (福豆)", which means 'fortune beans', and throwing them at a cosplaying relative while chanting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (鬼は外! 福は内! "Demons out! Luck in!") signifies the purifying of the house of all the badness built up over the past year, giving room for, hopefully, some good luck for the year to come.

I like Setsubun.  It's a fun little tradition that isn't obtrusive, and sits just right on the balance between fun and meaningfulness.  Shops everywhere sell cute little demon masks for kids to wear, and supermarkets sell big bags of beans and nuts for throwing and eating.  Even my school lunch today had a little packet of fukumame with it.

In the West, I feel that we are sometimes over-cynical of traditions, for being pointless, meaningless or just an excuse for shops to make money.  Japanese traditions aren't necessarily any deeper or significant than other celebrations around the world, but they're definitely approached in a more pragmatic way.  Do the Japanese seriously believe throwing roasted beans at a family member in dress up wards off evil spirits?  Of course not.  But they might see it as a harmless bit of fun that can tighten family bonds.