Setsubun!! Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!

This was an exciting weekend here in Japan! It was Setsubun! for those of you that don't know what Setsubun is (which i'm sure is everyone considering I didn't know until just this weekend) i'll give you a short history.
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Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of each season. The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the Spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春), celebrated yearly on February 3. In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be thought of (and indeed was previously thought of) as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (lit. bean scattering).

Mamemaki is usually performed by the toshiotoko of the household (i.e. the male who was born on the corresponding animal year on the chinese zodiac), or else the male head of the household. Pan-heated soybeans (called irimame) 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!" (鬼は外! 福は内!). The literal meaning of the words is something like "Demons (or evil spirits) out! Luck (or blessing) 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 part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat soybeans, one for each year of one's life, and in some areas, one for each year of one's life, plus one more for bringing good luck for the year to come. In the Heian era, a famous Buddhist monk was said to have driven away oni by throwing beans.
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and indeed I did throw beans out of my house at my friend Kyo who kindly dressed himself as an oni, shouting "Oni wa soto!!" Then I tossed a bunch of beans around my kitchen, chanting "fuku wa uchi!" It was great, well great until I looked around and realized my floor was covered in beans,haha. Easily swept up, no worries.haha. Later in the day my city also held a Setsubun festival at a nearby shrine. When we arrived we had no idea what was going on. There were many people gathered in the courtyard area of the shrine. Then about half an hour later many people exited the shrine and stood around all of the onlookers. They then proceeded to lead a short chant after which they threw candy, snacks and coins at the waiting people. It was pretty exciting. and people fought tooth and nail for the things. I'm not so much of a fighter, So I ended up with only this, but I heard it is quite lucky. :)

My lucky ribbon/coin.

Photos of the festivities!

The shrine.

These are my good friends Nina and Jose! They got to be a part of the festival and throw the goods :) i'm jealous.

This cute little thing got to also help his dad throw things.

More shrine.

and again.

This is the walk going to the shrine. It was an absolutely beautiful day!