Japanese Holidays - Festival of Exorcism of Evil Spirits (Setsubun)

In the last month of winter, all residents of Japan celebrate one of the most significant religious events of the year - Setsubun, symbolizing the onset of spring This holiday is part of the popular spring festival Haru Matsuri It helps to eliminate the natural instability that occurs when the seasons change, and also to expel the evil Oni spirits from the world of people The creation of this date is associated with one of the most important principles of the yin-yang ideology These are two principles that are opposite to each other and lie at the basis of the Universe: light and darkness, positive and negative, etc The Japanese are convinced that at the junction of the seasons, forces oppose each other, as a result of which there is a threat of various types of disasters For this reason, a ritual of exorcism arose, the main task of which was to drive out spirits that bring trouble and protect against all sorts of troubles The main part of the celebration is the traditional mamemaki ceremony, which involves throwing fried soybeans into the crowd The ritual is performed only by revered residents of the state, both men and women, who were born under the constellation of the current year The Japanese believe that beans have the ability to ward off evil Oni demons who leave their hellish world at the change of seasons The ritual of scattering the fruits is accompanied by a friendly shouting of a special spell Translated into Russian it means “Evil spirits, go away! Happiness, come!” Participants in the ritual believe that in this way they “invite” happiness into their home This ritual is performed in almost every home, temple or sanctuary The latter celebrate the holiday on a special scale, involving famous personalities in the action To ward off troubles and attract good luck, some people visit famous temples One such place is the ancient Sensoji Temple, located in the Asakusa district, the tourist part of Tokyo On the eve of the solemn date, a variety of products related to this holiday appear on the shelves of many stores and shopping centers One of the most popular products among buyers is the so-called happiness beans As a present, the beans are often accompanied by a funny mask depicting a devil Most often they are worn by young people or fathers of the family who want to amuse their children For this reason, the festival is always very fun and interesting, the whole holiday is spent in costumes of evil demons and traditional outfits, about a ton of fried beans are scattered in the temples throughout the whole day After all the fruits are scattered, people select the number of beans corresponding to their age, and then eat them According to existing legend, a person who eats one bean more than the number of years he has lived gets sick much less often In addition, in some regions of Japan, a special ritual is carried out to impale the head of an iwashi on a twig The finished composition is mounted on the house - it is also designed to protect household members from evil spirits