One event anyone can participate in is Setsubun, on February 3rd.
During Setsubun there is a lot to do. First is getting an “Oni Mask.” Next you’ll need beans, and finally an ehomaki sushi roll. This set of three items can easily be had at supermarkets in February. When they grow up, many people only get the ehomaki, but when they have children of their own, they once again search after Oni masks and beans every year.
For those of you who would like to experience Setsubun in Japan yourselves, here are the steps.
①One person wears the Oni mask and pretends to be an Oni (In Japan, usually the father)
② While chanting “Oni out, good fortune in!”, throw the beans at the Oni. (It’s okay to go all out.)
③ Eat a number of beans equal to your age (These beans are pretty tasteless)
④ After enjoying everything else, silently eat your ehomaki. (There is also a specified auspicious direction to face while you do it.)
Looking at the above list, its quite a surreal event. The Oni is the bad guy, so you drive him away with beans. In order to live a year full of good health, driving out the bad thing (here: the oni) is the goal. I’d like to save talking about the ehomaki another time. It is enough to say that it is delicious.
Clever readers will have already noticed, but doing Setsubun yourself is quite a handful. It’d be great if you could enjoy it with your family and friends, but just getting an ehomaki and joining the ranks of the other non-participants might not be so bad either.