I will now attempt to wipe away some of the blank looks.
To start with, here's the wiki on Setsubun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun
It's one of the more minor holidays in the Japanese calendar, but some people celebrate it. Basically, it's a celebration of the start of Spring in the lunar calendar. Because it's a new season, and really a new life cycle for the year, people want to start it off by getting all the evil spirits out of themselves and their houses, kind of a spiritual spring cleaning. Now, the popular way to accomplish this is by hurling dried soybeans, which apparently demons (oni) are afraid of. I don't quite understand why, but the wiki says that some Buddhist monk excorsised demons by throwing soybeans at them. Whatever. These days, kids sometimes wear little paper demon masks while other kids throw beans at them. Also, many people visit Shinto shrines to pray and to throw beans at shrines, statues, trees, large rocks, small inoffensive rocks, birds, fish, people they don't like, people they DO like, and random clumps of air, just in case there's demons there. To me, it just seemed like a national excuse to throw stuff at stuff. Slightly eccentric, but I can get right behind throwing stuff at stuff, it's fun.
I celebrated Setsubun by going to the Mizusawa-dera temple in Ikaho, which is the major temple in the area. I heard there was a biggish to-do going on there, maybe a celebrity or two, so I figured I would check it out. Many people were there, and it was a pretty cool time. Here are some pics.
This is the line that I waited in for about 40 minutes without knowing what it was for. When I came to this shrine at O-shogatsu (New Years) with my friends, there was a similar, even longer line that we did not wait in. That line was for the main temple, to pray there, which is a big deal at New Years. This time, there was a similar line, but it was a bit shorter, and I figured, what the hey, I got nothing else going on, I'll wait to pray with everyone else. However, the line was not for the temple as I had imagined, but rather for a lucky draw game. Apparently, in the local papers for a few days before the event, the temple had a flyer advertising the event, and on the flyer was a ticket for the lucky draw game for nifty prizes, the top prize of which was a television. However, I did not know this, and did not have any tickets for the draw, and for twenty minutes or so I was unaware that I was standing in line for a game I couldn't play. Fortuitously, I met an old couple standing in line that asked me how many tickets I had, and I said, um, what are those, zero I guess. So they took pity on me and gave me three tickets of the dozen or so that they had. From those two tickets, I won one packet of beans (lowest prize) and two medium-sized wooden bobble-head boar statues. This is the year of the boar, see. I was extremely fortunate, most people got nothing but beans. So I really lucked out there, apparently fortune doesn't ALWAYS favor the prepared. However, the couple I was with walked away with a massaging footbath, so I didn't feel guilty about taking their tickets. We were all celebrating together, it was fun.
A photo of one of the aforementioned lucky piggies. Upon closer examination, it's made of heavy papier-mache, not wood, but still cool. I gave the other one to the principal at Kanashima, he put it on a counter near the front of the school, with a little sign saying that it was from me. Slightly embarrassing.
These guys dressed up as demons did a little dance while some others played flutes and drums. This kind of dance is very traditional, and it's the first time I'd seen it. Now, it's noteworthy that these guys were the only things that looked anything like demons that I saw all day, and they were also about the only things that DIDN'T get beans thrown at them. Go figure.
I chatted with the head demon for a little while, he seemed pretty cool. You know, for a demon and all.
People praying at the main temple. There was no line to actually pray.
A pavilion off to one side of the main temple complex, which included a central stand mounted on the ground that was open on six sides, had three different statues of the Buddha on each side, and, get this, spun slowly when pushed. A Buddhist merry-go-round of holiness. If there's symbolism, it's lost on me. Maybe the reincarnation cycle or something. Whatever. It got so many beans thrown at it that I'm surprised they didn't jam it.
This was the main event of the day - local dignitaries, temple officials and even a celebrity or two tossed beans and other stuff (tissues, pairs of work gloves, snack food, even some fruit) into the crowd. People had brought shopping bags to catch the stuff. The wiki says that this kind of event turns "wild," but I think that's an overstatement of the mood here. However, people were kind of scrambling, and it was out of proportion of what was actually being thrown. I was near the back of the crowd, so I didn't get much, and what did make it out my way was thrown pretty hard. However, I like any holiday where there is the possibility of being beaned (heh) by a ballistic tangerine. Keeps you on your toes. If anyone can spot the celebrity, please let me know, I don't watch much Japanese TV.
Well, that was about it for Setsubun. Interesting times. This past Friday, there was an event in Isesaki for the local ALT's called a "red light, green light" party for valentine's day. Basically, if you were single, you wore green, involved you wore red, and keeping your options open was yellow. It was pretty cool, but it was basically another gaijin party. There were some Japanese people in the club, but mostly they were Parapara dancing, and that's very difficult to do. That night was the first time I'd seen it done in a club, it was kind of trippy. For those who don't know what parapara dancing is, here's the wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapara
I wish they had a photo or video or something, it's interesting to watch. That's it on this end. See you next week, maybe!
4 comments:
OK, Jeff, this has to be the weirdest yet. Throwing beans at things - right. Hope you can come up with something equally "interesting" in March. Mom
There are a few American traditions that look just as strange if you really think about it.
How about the one where you take little hollow plastic balls, fill them with candy or money, hide them around the house and yard for little kids to find, and then lie and tell the kids that a giant talking bunny hid them there to begin with. And somehow this is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
I definitely agree with your dad. If you tried to bring a New Orleans-style Mardi Gras to the middle of Japan, you would probably be arrested. And deported. And asked very politely never to return.
Ooh! Ooh! Or the one where everyone pretends like they're from an island in Europe and speak with a ridiculous accent and pinch each other if they're not wearing the color green! And then go to bars and proceed to get completely plastered drinking beer which has also been dyed green! Yeah! No one even KNOWS what that one's about! You'd probably find yourself the subject of a police inquiry or two if you tried that one over here.
Man, that one's coming up, too. Say what you like about America, but we've got some cool holidays. Mardi Gras is included in those. Given the choice between a national excuse to throw beans and a national excuse to get noisily drunk, just point me toward the bar.
By the way, there may be nothing quite like the real Mardi Gras, but the Japanese do know how to create a spectacle. Check this out.
http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2006/09/18/japans-nebuta-matsuri-giant-floats-frighten-and-delight/
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