A bit of Japanese Culture: 節分

Today, February 3rd, is Setstubun (節分), which means "seasonal division". Acccording to the Japanese lunar calendar, today is the beignning of spring. Funnily enough, today was probably the coldest day of the winter so far and we have huge blizzard forecasts for the whole weekend. But, I digress.

Back in the 13th century, on Setsubun it was common to drive away bad spirits with the noise of loud drums, and the smell of burning sardine heads and burning wood. This is no longer a common practice.

Modern rituals associated with the holiday include throwing roasted beans (mamemaki, まめまき）around your house and at temples and shrines and yelling "おには外、ふくはうち！” (Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi) meaning, "Demons out, happiness in". Aterwards, you should pick up and eat the number of beans according to your age.

And like everything else, the Japanese have cute little cartoons to go along with it: