 Participants of Tsubaki Grand Shrine's Setsubun Taisai watch as three hama-ya (misfortune dispelling arrows) are shot to purify the past, present, and future. (Photo from Tsubaki Grand Shrine) |
Tsubaki Grand Shrine had its Bean Throwing Festival, called Setsubun Taisai in Japanese. It is a very popular New Year’s ritual based on the lunar calendar. The literal meaning of Setsubun is season division, coming at the end of the coldest season.
In the ceremony, adults and children throw the soybeans while shouting, “Good luck in, bad luck out.”
After the celebrants scatter the soybeans, they eat toasted soybeans, each one eating as many beans as his/her own age, plus one more. The extra bean represents the beginning of the New Year. ♦