Post by Hatsuharu Souma on Jul 12, 2005 22:26:25 GMT -5
Setsubun and bean-throwing
Japan has four distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The term setsubun originally referred to the days marking the change from one season to the next, so that there were four of them, but today only the day before risshun (the beginning of spring in the traditional Japanese calendar) is called by that name. Setsubun comes on either February 3 or 4, depending on the year.
On the night of Setsubun, many households do mame-maki - a bean-throwing ceremony. They fill a masu (a wooden measuring cup) with roasted soybeans and throw the beans all about the room, shouting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" meaning "Out with the goblins and in with fortune!" They also open the windows and throw the beans outside. Mame-maki began as a New Year ceremony (in the traditional Japanese calendar) to drive out evil spirits and the seeds of misfortune, as well as to pray for the family's well-being and good business.
After the mame-maki is over, everyone eats the same number of beans as their own age. It is believed that by doing so, people will be free of sickness during that year.
Families with little children especially look forward to this day because mame-maki can be a lot of fun. One person acts as the goblin and runs around, while the others throw beans at the person. At some schools, the students make goblin masks and enjoy mame-maki.
Thanks to the great fun of mame-maki, Setsubun is still a popular traditional event.
Risshun
February 4 or 5, depending on the year, is risshun. Risshun is the first day of spring in the traditional Japanese calendar. According to the calendar used in the East since ancient times, risshun marks the beginning of spring, rikka (May 5) the beginning of summer, risshu (August 7) the beginning of autumn, and ritto (November 7) the beginning of winter.
Until it adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873, Japan had been counting time on the old lunar calendar. This calendar is based on the waxing and waning of the moon, so it isn't always in sync with the actual seasons. So farmers relied on the nijushi (24) sekki to tell them when to start planting or harvesting.
The nijushi sekki is a system dividing the year into 24 periods of 15 or 16 days each, corresponding to changes in the sun's position in the sky along its ecliptic (its apparent path among the stars during the year). The first day of each of these periods has a name descriptive of the season, and risshun ("becoming spring") is one of them. Thus, people used a combination of lunar and solar calendars to keep track of the seasons and gauge the brightness of the nights.
No special events are held on risshun, but it's an important day for farmers because all other days dividing the seasons are based on this day.
The time between the end of January and risshun is the coldest time of year. After risshun the sunlight becomes brighter day by day, and although temperatures don't yet rise that much, the approach of spring can be clearly felt.
National Foundation Day
February 11 is National Foundation Day, a national holiday for Japanese people to remind themselves of the nation's founding and foster their love for the nation.
Japan switched from the traditional Japanese calendar - a lunar calendar based on the waxing and waning of the moon - to the Gregorian calendar starting in January 1873. It was at this time that the day of the enthronement of Emperor Jinmu, the first Japanese emperor, was made a national holiday and named Kigen-setsu. February 11 was determined as the day of enthronement by calculating the date in the solar calendar corresponding to the date recorded in the Nihon Shoki (The Chronicles of Japan), Japan's first history compiled on imperial orders. (However, many historians believe that Emperor Jinmu's enthronement, as described in the Nihon Shoki, was not a historical fact but folklore.)
Before World War II government offices and schools throughout Japan held all sorts of celebrations on Kigen-setsu, but after the war, the holiday was abolished for various reasons. Still, many voices lamented its passing, so that in 1966 the day was again made a national holiday as National Foundation Day.
St. Valentine's Day
February 14 is St. Valentine's Day. In Christian countries this day is observed in honor of the martyr Saint Valentine, and it's also a day for people to send cards decorated with Cupid figures and other gifts to their sweethearts.
But in Japan, St. Valentine's Day is slightly different: The only ones doing the giving are females, and they usually send a gift of chocolates to their love interests.
This unique custom seems to have its roots in a campaign that a Japanese chocolate manufacturer started in 1958, promoting St. Valentine's Day as "the day women confess their love to a man with a gift of chocolate." The manufacturer sold heart-shaped chocolates at a department store in Tokyo. Only five were sold that first year, but this "Valentine Sale" became more and more popular with each passing year, and the custom of females sending chocolates to males on St. Valentine's Day gradually took root.
Today, chocolates are frequently given to members of one's own family. Gift giving on St. Valentine's Day has also become quite common among school friends and colleagues at work. Aside from the "honmei chocolate," the chocolate that girls give to their true sweethearts, girls also hand out "giri (obligation) chocolate" to their male classmates, colleagues, and friends as a mark of their appreciation for the kindness they ordinarily receive.
What's more, in Japan St. Valentine's Day is followed up a month later by "White Day," on March 14. This is the day when the men who received chocolates from women on St. Valentine's Day give gifts like candy in return. This is also a custom unique to Japan, introduced and promoted by a Japanese confectionery company. But, perhaps because its history is still short, White Day is not yet as popular as St. Valentine's Day.