2025/02/03 [Mon]
The Oni Attack!
Hey everyone, it’s Jorge. Something wild happened recently—an Oni attack! And not just any Oni, but a blue one! This tall creature wielded a giant club, but don’t worry, we had an army of small fighters armed with throwing weapons to fend it off. Hahaha, now for the real story…
Setsubun Traditions
We did get visited by an Oni, but it was part of the Japanese holiday tradition for Setsubun. This holiday happens right before the first day of spring according to the Japanese lunar calendar. People perform different rituals to ward off demons and spirits and bring good fortune for the coming year. One of these traditions involves someone dressing up as an Oni while others throw roasted soybeans at them to drive away bad luck and invite good fortune. We had an event for this on the 2nd, and it was a blast!
My Experience with Setsubun
I’ve been in Japan for about seven years now, and I hadn’t really celebrated Setsubun much before. It’s usually just another workday, and nothing special happened at school. Occasionally, I would be given or buy a huge sushi roll called ehomaki. The tradition is to eat it facing a direction determined by the year’s Chinese zodiac. This year, the lucky direction was West-Southwest. I remember eating the entire ehomaki in one go while facing the lucky direction—it was fun but a lot of rice to consume at once!
The Event and the Bet
Yesterday, we had lots of kids enjoying the Setsubun tradition. We had a special kids menu and even themed cocktails for the adults, including non-alcoholic options! I made a bet with a coworker about which cocktail would sell the best. I bet on blue because I like blue-flavored things, and they bet on red. But when I saw the cocktails, I had to accept defeat. The blue one looked fancy and strong, but the red one looked absolutely delicious, almost like a frozen margarita. In the end, I’m not sure which one sold the most, but I think blue technically won. However, I didn’t feel like it was a true victory since the red one looked and probably tasted better. Maybe next year, I’ll get to try it!
How Do You Celebrate Setsubun?
Did you do anything for Setsubun? Do you usually celebrate this holiday? I’d love to hear how you celebrate it. Over the past seven years, I’ve found that everyone has their unique way of celebrating, and no two people have the exact same traditions. Pretty cool, don’t you think?
