We like to do some Japanese holiday traditions to educate the kids about our surrounding culture. Feb. 3 is a holiday called Setsubun. For this holiday you buy some roasted soybeans and throw them out of the house saying,
Oni wa soto! (Demons out) and then throw some
inside the house and say
Fuku wa uchi! (luck in). We like to go along with this and have fun with the soybeans. They're sort of delicious, too. This year the soybeans I bought had a mask attached for a family member to wear to pretend he's the demon, and you throw the soybeans at him. It was so much more fun that way, and after a while the neighbor kids joined us and took turns dodging the soybeans.
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| Brandon was the first to play the demon. |
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| Getting some soybeans. Looks like Brandon is eating some here. |
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| The package for the soybeans and the mask that came with it. |