Sunday, February 03, 2008

Setsubun



Today in Japan it is Setsubun (seasonal division), the day before Spring where people celebrate by throwing panfried soybeans out the door or at a family member wearing an 'Oni'(demon) mask in the hope of warding off evil spirits for the coming new year. While throwing the beans one should say "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" which means demon out (of my house) and luck come in. You should then eat one bean for each year of your life, that was a few beans for me!! Jazz and Dixie sampled a few of the soy beans as well.

Well it is supposed to be the day before spring and yesterday while on our walk I took some photos of the plum trees in flower in the park. Imagine our surprize this morning when we woke to find everything white with snow! It snowed all day so we couldn't go for a walk because Jazz refuses to go out in the wet slushy snow! So instead we stayed in a warm apartment and had lots of cuddles! Jazz and Dixie know exactly where the warm spots are!


Snow in the park taken from our apartment window. If the snow is still on the ground on our walk tomorrow morning I will post some more pics.

5 comments:

Girasol said...

Thanks for sharing the Setsubun tradition.

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed at all the different Japanese traditions - they are great.

Beautiful photos of the snow and the plum trees too - Jazz and Dixie look like they've got the right idea on how best to spend a snowy day!!

River

Katherine and Pippa said...

Love hearing about your traditions.

Wouldn't fancy eating too many pan-fried soya beans though. My soya bean cooking has always been rubbish.

The two tree shots are great - an excellent contrast.

Katherine

Lorenza said...

Hi, friends!
The Stesubun tradition is very interesting! Thanks for sharing it! I am with you two. Better to stay inside at a warm spot!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

The Army of Four said...

YUM, BEANS! I wish we had that tradition here!
Play bows,
Zim