Friday, February 3, 2006

bean me

Setsubun - the one day of the year when parents give their children permission to throw food at their siblings and then pick it up off the floor and eat it.

Although I didn’t make it to an official Setsubun ceremony this year, I did get a chance to participate in a home version; my Friday Night Family invited me to participate in the mame-maki (bean throwing). We all stood in the front doorway armed with special “good fortune beans.” The two daughters stepped outside and took turns wearing an oni (demon/ogre) mask while we threw beans at them saying, “Oni wa soto (Demons out!).” Then we turned into the house and threw beans at the foyer saying, “Fuku wa uchi (Good fortune in!)” When everyone had pelted each other sufficiently, we knelt down and collected the beans on the house floor, counting out the number that corresponded to our age plus one for this year. I ate my 25 to ensure some good fortune comes my way. Hopefully this protects me from the breaking of the three second rule as well.

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