Sunday, February 05, 2006

SETSUBUN!

Boy, it's been awhile since I've posted! Well, two stomach flus (the boys) and a mysterious swollen foot (me) later...we're back on track!

It was so sad that my youngest son had to miss his BIG field trip of the year...Brookfield Zoo but that stomach flu knocked him out like I've never seen before. But he did get to see "March of The Penguins" and did his Penguin presentation (power point even! LOL!). I had to miss my meeting with some CKU-A ladies from the Chicago far west suburbanites!

Today we had our SETSUBUN ceremony at church. It is full of fun and great time for everyone! Setsubun ("division of season") is a celebration held on either February 3 or 4, one day before the start of spring according to the Japanese lunar calendar. For centuries, the Japanese have been performing rituals with the purpose of chasing away evil spirits.
In modern days, the most commonly performed setsubun ritual is the throwing of roasted beans around one's house or at temples/shrines. When throwing the beans, people shout "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" ("Devils out, happiness in"). Afterwards one eats the number of beans that corresponds to that person's age.











This is our ONI (aka TakaONI)!












Not a great picture...they kept moving! Actually, they were throwing the beans out to the congregation members but they are also throwing bags of beans with a piece of paper which indicates what prizes they got (ie. mug set, bag of candy, calculator). It's a sight to see when you see all these people diving towards the floor getting these prized bags! LOL!!

It was a long day but was great to see alot of the members come out for SETSUBUN!

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