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Happy Setsubun!

Last night marks the “beginning of spring”. In Japan, Setsubun is a festival that is held on February 3^rd or 4^th in order to bring in luck for the new year. The day is decided according to the lunar calendar and is not a national holiday. (This just means that everybody still goes to work.) Setsubun is a holiday that celebrates new beginnings, cleansing oneself, and chasing away evil.

My impression of this holiday so far is that it exists in name more than it does in practice. Much like Halloween in the States, there are many older traditions attached to this holiday but little modern meaning behind what actually occurs.

Traditionally, families would cleanse their homes by throwing roasted beans out the door and shouting, “Devils out, happiness in!” [Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!] This is called “mamemaki”. It was also once common to post a dried sardine head and some throny leaves called “hiiragi” on your front door. This was thought to keep evil spirits from entering.

In the Kansai region of Japan many people eat a special sushi called “Eho-maki”, a rolled sushi, while facing the lucky direction that corresponds to the current zodiac year. This tradition apparently started in Osaka and was not practiced throughout Japan until a few years ago, when combini’s (Japanese convenience stores) picked up on it. They began heavily marketing the pre-sales of Eho-maki and now many people throughout Japan eat this type of sushi on Setsubun. (I like sushi, so I’m not complaining. Also, I live in Kansai…)

In honor of this holiday, I did in fact eat a rolled sushi facing north - northeast. Hopefully this will bring me good luck! Either way, I'm ready to welcome spring.