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January 31, 2024
Photo from Discover Kyoto
Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in the lunar calendar in Japan. It is now set on February 3.
On the night of Setsubun, we throw dry beans to ward off evil spirits that bring disaster, misfortune and bad health. The reason that we throw beans is that beans and demon eyes in Japanese sounds similar (actually sounds exactly the same but different intonation) and throwing beans in Japanese sounds similar to destroying demons.
Our custom is we open every window in the house and throw beans saying "Oni wa Soto, Fuku wa Uchi" meaning "Demons out, Fortune in". When we are done saying this phrase in every entrance in the house, we close windows immediately. We believe closing windows keeps the fortune inside and demons outside.
Then, we eat special sushi roll (Ehomaki). Normally, there are seven ingredients inside to match with seven lucky gods. When we eat this sushi roll, we need to face the direction that we believe to bring good luck during this year.
Keep a lot of happiness at home!
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