Today was Setsubun!!!!
It means "turn of a year" and long ago Japan used to celebrate 4 at the change of each season according to the old Lunar Calendar. Now only the start of Spring is celebrated because it was the beginning of a new year.
Today it is celebrated by throwing soybeans at Oni (usually the father dressed up or imaginary) to drive out bad spirits and attract good luck. While saying, "Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi!" Then each family member eats their age in soybeans for good luck. A person who's Zodiac animal it is that year is supposed to have a very good or lucky year. "Oni wa soto" is said to drive out the bad spirits, while "Fuku wa uchi" is a wish for good luck in the house.
This in and of itself, all be it interesting, sounds rather mundane. This was the case in class today as our teacher was handing out very large amounts of soybeans for us to eat at a latter point, but not at that moment. No one paid much attention to the now rather suspicious boxes of soybeans on our desks as the lesson continued. Until the door burst open and two people dressed in Oni (ogre) costumes burst threw the door and started shouting while waving clubs......I am not joking...there was a red one and a green one. The teacher had to give us the hint to throw the soybeans at the Oni because we where all on the verge of either screaming or laughing.
Afterwards the teacher just shook her head (while laughing) at us and said (roughly translated), "You forgot to say it! The Oni wouldn't have gone away!"
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