Happy New Years, again!
Did you know that in Japan New Years is celebrated not once, but twice a year? The reason is because that prior to adopting the Western style Gregorian calendar system in 1873 the Japanese relied on the Chinese lunar calendar for recording time. And according to the Chinese calendar, New Years Eve falls on February 3rd and not on the 31st of December. Today, even though January 1st tends to be the most important holiday of the year in Japan, many also continue celebrate their traditional Japanese New Year a month later in February.
This day, referred to as Setsubun (節分), literally translates as seasonal division or the beginning of a new year. In order to begin the New Year with a fresh start there are special rituals intended for bringing good fortune and driving away any evil spirits lurking around from the previous year.
Mame-maki（豆撒き）or scattering of the beans is one of the more common rituals. Traditionally, it was thought that throwing beans outside the front door of the house while chanting, “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” or “Out with the evil spirits and in with good fortune” was one way to scare away any evil spirits from within the house. Nowadays, instead of throwing beans people through peanuts and instead of throwing them out the front door it’s much more fun to throw them at one another. This year Ryuto, my 5 year old neighbor, made a custom designed devil mask out of milk cartons at preschool so we used his mask and took turns throwing peanuts. It really is a blast!
Maki-zushi（巻き寿司）or sushi roll is one customary food eaten on Setsubun. The difference between this sushi roll and the one you might find at your local sushi shop is that it uncut making it about a foot long. The way to eat in which one should eat maki-zushi is also important. Each year, according to Chinese zodiac, there is one lucky compass direction that corresponds with the zodiac animal of that particular year. This year’s lucky animal is the rat and the lucky direction is north. Therefore, when eating maki-zushi in February everyone should have been facing to the north.
This year at one of my Jr. High schools we attempted to make the world’s longest Setsubun sushi roll!! Okay, so perhaps the world’s longest sushi roll ever made isn’t exactly the truth, but at 7 meters surely it came in at a close 2nd. Let’s just take a moment to wrap our minds around exactly how long 7 meters really is. Tonight for dinner, I challenge you to go to your local Subway and order yourself 23 foot long Meatball Marinara subway sandwiches on Parmesan Oregano Bread with double cheese – then you will you know exactly how long our school’s sushi roll was.
And finally, even though it’s April as far as I’m concerned it’s never too late to wish anyone a happy New Year . . . so Happy New Year!
