Setsubun; or, How I learned the art of bean throwing

February third is the Japanese holiday of Setsubun. Actually, holiday is the wrong word. Setsubun is as much of a holiday as Groundhog's day is; only it's much more fun. Much like Groundhog's day it is a celebration of spring, but it also incorporates some Japanese superstitions.

Because Japan used to follow the Chinese lunar calendar, they used to celebrate the beginning of spring and the New Year around this time. Since this day was so close to New Years, they gave this day a spiritual ritual to help exercise all the bad luck from the previous year, keep bad luck from entering during the current year and welcome good luck into their lives. This ritual is known as mamemaki, or bean throwing. At home, the ritual is performed by someone in the family putting on a demon mask and then someone else throws roasted soybeans at them while chanting "oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (which translates to "Out demons! Welcome fortune!). After the beans have been thrown, they are collected and eaten by the family members. Each person eats as many beans as their age, as well as one more for good luck. In some parts of Japan they add an extra bean for good luck. This ritual is also performed at shrines and temples across Japan. Here, beans and candy are thrown by the priests and invited celebrities to the waiting spectators. Once again, the beans are eaten.

At our shrine, our celebrities were high standing government officials. A few of my friends also said they think they saw some of their principals. Also, beans weren't thrown, but peanuts still in the shell as well as mandarin oranges. And I gotta admit, there is nothing as scary as a mandarin orange flying at your head. Here's a short transcript of what was going through my head during the tossing of the treats:

Awww… they're not throwing them far enough.

Oh! Here comes some stuff. Okay, open the bag, hold it as high as you can and AHHH!

Okay, that was scary. C'mon, the kids are doing better than you. Don't be scared, just hold the bag up high and AHHHH!

C'mon, you can do this! Put the bag up high to protect your face and you'll be AHHHH!

Did Kris just fall?

Oh, the demons have some oranges. Oni-sama over AHHH!

So basically I was the biggest baby ever, but it was still so much fun!

A few of the peanuts had colored tape around them. If you caught any of them, you could claim a prize from one of the buildings. Three of my friends caught peanuts with red tape on them and they each got a pair of gardening gloves. They said that some of the prizes were pretty intense. Some people went home with big bottles of sake and big bags of treats and gifts from the shrine.

Another ritual, especially here in the Kansai side of Japan, is to eat large, uncut sushi rolls known as makizushi. While eating it, you must turn to face the year's corresponding good luck direction, which has something to do with the Chinese zodiac, and eat your sushi in silence. Why this is done, I have no idea. It's just another way the Japanese try to make sure their lives are filled with good luck.

Either way, it was a fun holiday to experience. And after all that, I hope 2010 is an awesome year!

Today's video: The throwing of peanuts and oranges to the crowd waiting below.

New Years in Japan

I love Christmas time. The sights, the sounds, the feeling of peace and joy on Earth. The love and merriment, and even the craziness. I love it all. Sadly, Christmas is not a big holiday in Japan. The Japanese are so in love with western culture that they try to copy our big holidays, but they seem to only copy the decorating part and miss the true joy of the holidays.


So, needless to say, my Christmas in Japan was quite tame. I was lucky enough to have the day off, and I spent the time talking with family in Canada. I also went shopping to get a few last minute things for the Christmas dinner Kris and I had with our friends. It wasn't a bad Christmas, just not a Christmas I'm used too. There wasn't even any snow!

But don't think just because there wasn't a grand Christmas that Japan is lacking on holidays. They have more than enough of their own. For starters, they have two four-day holidays; one in the spring called Golden week, and one in the fall called Silver week. They also have a whole slew of holidays thrown into their year. So many that it seems like I have a stat-holiday at least once a month. But the big Japanese holiday is New Years.

Unlike us, the Japanese aren't big on staying up till midnight to watch a glittering ball drop. If they do decide to stay up late, they'll stay up all night to watch the sun-rise. Many temples accommodate this tradition by having a festival all night that offers food, beer and other sundries to visitors. Then, on January 1st, thousands of people gather to the shrines and temples (don't ask me the difference between the two cause I have no idea).

While they do enjoy the festival, the big thing is to make an offering at the temple, ring the bell, and pray for good fortune for the upcoming year. After the prayer, you can purchase a multitude of charms and horoscopes. If you have a horoscope that predicts misfortune, you tie it to a tree (or any spot that has been dedicated to this custom). Some shrines (like the one we went to) also offer other mini-shrines you can make offerings to and pray to. These shrines are dedicated to a certain cause. For example, if you are a student preparing for your entrance exams for high school or university, you might make an offering to a shrine for education.

The shrine that we went to is pretty popular because, apparently, it specializes in car blessings. The cars line up at the front of one of the shrines and then everyone gets out of their car and goes inside. I have no idea what happens in there, but after a very long time, they come out and enter their cars. The monks from the shrine come outside and stand on the balcony and do a special car chant, complete with gongs and bells. Once the chant is done, a few of the monks walk amongst the cars with large poles that have a bunch of papers attached to them. I don't fully understand the papers, but they are folded a certain way to make them good luck charms. Anyways, the monks wave the poles around the cars while chanting. Once they are done, the cars leave the parking area, and the next group comes in.

Visiting the shrine is only one of the new years traditions. The other main tradition is the family time. Children (no matter what their age) return to their parents' home. They usually stay from the first until at least the third. During this time, no cooking or cleaning is supposed to be done. Which means that the poor mother is cooking like a mad woman on the thirty-first so that everything is ready for the upcoming feasts. I don't know a lot about these feasts, but I do know a bit about the food. One common new years food is zoni, which is a special vegetable and chicken soup. This soup is made with toasted mochi (rice cakes). We made it for our new years dinner and it was really yummy. Definitely something we'll make again.

Other foods that are common to new years are these boxes filled with different types of vegetables and seafood, like whole shrimp. The boxes should be assembled at home, but you can buy them from stores in advanced and have them delivered to your home either on new years or just in time for new years. But these boxes don't come cheap. The grocery store in the mall was selling them for about $100. I think I saw even some at 7-11 for $35. I don't know the full story, but each food has a special meaning, like long life or prosperity or something else depending on the food. Each thing is supposed to help bring good luck in the new year, and chase off evil spirits.

Since all this time is being spent with the family, a lot of places are closed until the 3rd or 4th. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. My bank's ATMs are open, but I've noticed a few that are closed. The big chain stores are open, but a lot of the smaller, family owned places are closed. The buses and trains are running, but a lot of them are running on a holiday schedule. Even some of the tourist destinations are closed.

The stores that are open offer "Happy Bags." Depending on the store and the items, a happy bag can go for $5-$100. They are filled with items from the store. Each store has signs and pictures of what is in the happy bag. I've seen happy bags filled with candy, clothes, picnic supplies and even stuff for the kitchen. Its a pretty cool idea, and one that works really well with another new years tradition: money envelopes.

I guess its okay that they don't have Christmas, because they have this tradition instead. On New Years day, parents give their children, under the age of 20, envelopes filled with money. From what I've been told, the older you are, the more money you receive. Many of my jr high school students will get $30-$50. The envelopes here are really cute, too. They have many different designs, from flowers, to the animals of the Chinese zodiac, to popular characters like Disney Princesses and Thomas the train engine.

The last tradition that I know about is New Years cards. The idea behind them is similar to Christmas cards. You buy, or make, cards that wish the people in your life good luck in the upcoming year. These cards are such a big deal that the post office guarantees delivery of your cards in time for new years as long as you drop them off by a certain time. The only major difference between these cards and our Christmas cards is that they don't sell them in bulk. Of course, in North America, you can go to almost any store and buy a box of Christmas cards for a few dollars. In Japan, you can buy new years cards from most stores or the post office, but they all go for 50¢ a card. Which can get really expensive really fast. I know the teachers I work with are buying them not only for their friends and family, but also for their homeroom students and students that are in the clubs that they supervise.

Japanese New Years might not be as awesome as Christmas is, but its still really interesting to experience this culture and enjoy their holidays and traditions.

Fall Festival

While our friends and family in Canada were enjoying Thanksgiving, Kris and I were taking part in the Japanese version of Thanksgiving. Every year, around the same time as Canadian Thanksgiving, Japan celebrates their good harvests with what has only translated to be me as “The Fall Festival.” It’s such an important festival that my fellow Nishiwaki ALTs and I were invited to attend by the Mayor. I know, it is a big deal.

But what made it a much bigger deal is that our friend, and fellow ALT, Kiram, was asked by the father of one of his students to take part in the festival by carrying one of the shrines.

Okay, let me try to explain this festival. All over Japan, there are hundreds of shrines. I don’t know too much about them, but in Nishiwaki it seems like each shrine serves a different purpose. Like you go to a specific one when you want to ask or give thanks for a certain thing. I know one near us is a car shrine, so people go there at new years to get their cars blessed, just to give you an example.

Anyways, during the fall festival, each shrine has a procession with their portable shrine, or, in Japanese, omikoshi. They range in size and extravagance. The shrine that Kiram was helping with was one of the larger ones. Not only was the shrine frickin huge, but there was also four children in there, constantly beating a drum and chanting. There were eight kids in our procession, so the four kids switched on and off, which was definitely necessary. Even when the shrine carriers stopped for a break of beer and dried fish, the kids kept chanting. Even when they were being switched, the kids inside kept chanting. By the end of the two day event the poor things had no voice left.

Kris and the other ALTs and I decided to follow along with the procession for the fun of it. Even though we were just walking around Nishiwaki for a good six hours, we had a lot of fun. We walked along a lot of side streets and just smaller streets that we never go down so we found a lot of new places and shops that we never would have found before. We had a lot of fun hanging out with our friends and meeting all the very nice and friendly people of Nishiwaki. So friendly that they shared their beer and dried fish with us. They even invited us to the celebration dinner on the second day. I felt extra honored cause I was the only female in the room at that dinner.

The actual festival part happened on the Sunday. After a long day of walking with the portable shrines, there were dances and exhibitions at a few of the shrines around town. We ended up at a large shrine surrounded by trees. It seemed like a very important shrine because the Mayor and some city hall people were there watching the events. Each procession did a “dance” with their shrine in front of the VIPs. This must have been the most difficult part of the festival. During the procession, our shrine was on wheels so the men never had to really pick it up. During the dance, however, they had to carry it on their shoulders, and then bounce it up and down and move around the center stage. All with the four kids still inside. Kiram and Minty (who had been asked to join mid-procession on Saturday) found this the most difficult cause they were the tallest and had to bend over pretty low in order to be at the same height as the other shrine carriers.

The actual festival part was pretty interesting, but the one we attended didn’t have as much going on as some of the others. At the festival, like any festival in Canada I’ve ever been too, there were a few different vendors hawking their wares. This included a candied fruit vendor (candy apples and more), a snow cone vendor, a few toy vendors, and a goldfish game. I don’t know if I can explain it just using words on a page, but let’s give it ago: the person playing (usually a small child) is given a wand with a large circle on one end with a piece of a paper like substance over the circle. The player than either uses the wand to pick up the fish, or to coax it into a plastic bag. I say either because I’m not really sure. If they are successful, hooray, you won a goldfish. I don’t want a goldfish, but I really wanna try the game. Anyone want a Japanese goldfish?

The other really cool thing that happened at the festival was the… umm… I’m gonna call it the treat toss. A bunch of VIP looking guys got up to the centre stage and were handed boxes filled with treats and rock hard moochi (little cakes made of rice flour). Once the crowd had gathered with their plastic bags in hand, the VIPs started to toss things into the crowd. They were really good at making sure they didn’t favor just one part of the crowd. They threw treats close, they threw them far, they just dropped them over the edge of the stage. It was chaos! But fun chaos. Not knowing about this tradition, we didn’t have a bag ready. Being the crazy person I am, I had to try anyways. Let me tell you something, the bags are necessary. Rock hard moochi flying at you, at whatever speed rock hard moochi can fly at, hurts! After all was said and done, I only ended up with one moochi. As Kris eyed the small children running around with bags full of moochi, he started to tease me because I was only able to catch the one. I think next year I’ll make him try. Or at least I’ll remember to bring a bag. So, the point to catching the moochi you ask? A few select moochi had numbers written on the bottom of them are if you caught a numbered moochi you won a prize. Yeah, my little loser moochi was numberless. Thinking it was useless, we left the moochi on the grounds somewhere. Later we were told that you can steam the moochi to make them edible. Meh, not that one moochi would have done us much good anyways.

The end of the festival was definitely one of the highlights. The portable shrine was brought back to it’s “garage” and greeted by a huge crowd. The shrine carriers had to do one more dance for the crowd, and, just when the guys thought it was all over, they had to run with it. I don’t know why, we couldn’t get a straight answer on that. All I know for sure was that by the end Kiram and Minty were praying for the end. The big highlight? During the last dance and chat some nice ladies were handing out little firecrackers to the women and children. One very excited lady explained to me in very fast and totally not-understood Japanese about when I was to set it off. I was able to understand how to set it off, and I figured out the timing from just watching the crowd.

The firecrackers were awesome! They made a loud popping noise and streamers came flying out of them. Loved it! The streamers went so high some of them got stuck on streetlights. A few of the older ladies wrappe

d some of the streamers around me like a boa. I quickly gave my streamers to some of the little girls, but it was a lot of fun.

Then there was the feast, or in Japanese, enkai. The people of Nishiwaki are so awesome because they are so excited to have foreigners in their town. They talk to us a lot, and when we can’t understand them they try their best to figure out some English or find a way to communicate with us. We ate and talked with people. Kris quickly learned out the Japanese drinking tradition: you don’t pour for yourself, someone else does, and they are eager to pour for you. We also played a betting game. Each table has someone selected to represent them to play tournament rock-paper-scissors. We got pretty close to the end, but our rep, Minty, was taken out by one of the kids.

All in all, it was a great event. I think what really made it so awesome was meeting all the different people in our town. It was really nice to be so welcomed into their world. It really made me happy, and grateful, to be placed in this town. I think I’m going to like it here.