Setsubun literally means "seasonal division" or "the day between two seasons."But usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun, celebrated yearly on February 3 or 4 as a part of the Spring Festival.
Setsubun was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come.
This special ritual is called mamemaki.
Mamemaki is usually performed by the male who was born on the corresponding animal year on the Chinese zodiac, or the male head of the household.
Roasted soybeans are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon or ogre) mask, while the throwers chant "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!"
The literal meaning of the words is like "Demons out! Luck in!"
The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them.
Then, as a part of bringing luck in, we customary eat the same number of soybeans as our age.
1 comment:
Really curious, i always think that the traditional events like this are very interesting. So thanks for the info and the photos^^
Javier(Zoku)
PD: I uploaded some new "macro-photos" to my blog, i hope that you like it.
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