Driving Out Demons on Setsubun

Date: February 19, 2023

Time: 12:30 - 3:00 PM

Cost: $12 for seniors (70+) and children (8-11), $15 for adults (age 12+)

For this year’s February luncheon, the Fort Worth Japanese Society will celebrate Setsubun, a Japanese holiday famous for its traditions of driving away demons and bad spirits with a tradition known as mamemaki, or bean throwing, children’s crafts, and Japanese cuisine.

The kanji used in Japanese for Setsubun (節分) take the meanings of “season” and “divide” and first became a way for people to observe the change from winter to spring on the Japanese lunar calendar. Over the course of time, observance of Setsubun became a day for cleansing homes and temples of the bad spirits that cause disaster and bad health and accumulate over the year, especially in the cold, winter months.

Beans are a symbol of good luck and a fundamental part of everyday life in older eras of Japan’s history and so are thought to be able to cast oni, or evil spirits, out of a home. The tradition of throwing beans to rid a place of evil spirits is especially popular among Japanese children, and an older family member will sometimes dress up as a demon for the children to throw their beans out as they chase them out of their house while shouting, “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (Out with the demons! In with happiness!”)

Oden will be our main dish for our Setsubun luncheon. This hot pot-style dish consists of meat, boiled eggs, daikon, tofu, and fishcakes that are simmered in a light broth (traditionally in a clay pot) to create a dish in the winter months that will keep you warm no matter how cold it gets outside. For a side dish, we will have takigomi gohan, rice cooked with seasonal vegetables and mushrooms.

During the luncheon, some of our members volunteered to prepare a special presentation discussing the history of Setsubun and why it is still observed in Japan today, roughly a thousand years since it was introduced to Japanese culture.

And of course, we can’t hold Setsubun without holding a mamemaki ceremony of our own! Although we won’t be throwing scattering individual beans, we will have bags of beans prepared to throw around the Fort Worth Japanese Society building while we pray for good fortune in the spring.

We hope you will be able to join us and look forward to seeing you for our February luncheon!