Time for spring??

Even after living here for 1,5 years there are some aspects of Japanese culture I still don't understand, and Saturday was a good example of that. On February 3rd the Japanese traditionally celebrate Setsubun, which literally means "seasonal division" and refers to the beginning of each new season. So does that make February 3rd the official start of spring?? Rather confusing since spring doesn't begin until March in most other countries & since Fukuoka was covered in a blanket of SNOW on Friday (first time this winter)! So either I'm missing the point here or some ancient Japanese meteorologist marked his calendar wrong ;-). Or shall we just blame the inconsistency on global warming; makes sense if you hear the recent disturbing conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ...

Despite the confusion about its exact meaning, Vaughan & I participated in the Setsubun celebration, both at home and at Kushida Shrine. The preparations had already started last week, when I bought special Setsubun soybeans -mame- and a cardboard mask depicting a demon, followed by some research on how exactly to perform the ritual (thanks, Wikipedia). The scattering of beans -mamemaki- is the most common Setsubun custom throughout Japan & is meant to chase away oni, evil spirits. Vaughan was just wearing the mask for a photo op because, as the male born in the animal sign of this year (boar for 2007), he was the one who needed to throw beans at someone impersonating an oni: me. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy pelting beans in my direction while shouting "Oni wa Soto; Fuku wa Uchi (Get out Ogre! Come in Happiness!); every married man's dream huh ;-). After this ritual we picked up the number of beans corresponding to our age & ate them for good fortune in the coming year. Then it was onward to Kushida Shrine, where groups of monks were showering large crowds of people with mame to ward off spirits.

The entrance to the shrine was incredibly congested because all visitors needed to come in through the mouth of this gate, representing good luck & prosperity (hence the full cheeks).

Not everyone was having a fun day out; most kids were scared out of their minds by these guys dressed as oni!