Fire and Flowers

Spring is coming! And with it, lots of fire and flowers! Allow me to explain.

First, spring is here! The official first day of spring in Japan is February 4th. The day before is known as setsubun. I was very sad to learn that missed this celebration, because it consists of throwing beans (I believe dried soy beans) at a demon, or oni, while shouting "Demons out! Good fortune in!" (oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!). You're also supposed to eat a number of beans equal to one less more your age (which is your age according to kazoe doshi, where the year of your birth counts as one). All of this is information I learned from my Japanese CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) Coursebook about 2 weeks after the fact.

So my only real experience with setsubun was my brief encounter with the middle school science teacher the day after. He practically danced into the copy room all smiles, and with the little English he knew, he started talking about throwing beans at the devil for the start of spring. 9 am, and I could have sworn the man was drunk. But it was exciting to hear about. I suspect he must have been the one dressed as the demon while his kids threw beans at him. I've heard this is traditionally the father's role.

There is a fire brigade in Nishihara whose main job is the safe spread of grass fires during March, when the grassy fields and hills of this region are set ablaze to make way for the new grass. It's a tradition that's been going on for awhile around here, and true to the inner pyromaniac in all of us, it has become something of a ritual. The Aso Fire Festival goes on all month, with events every weekend. For example, March 12th they will light a hillside on fire at night, first lighting the kanji character for "fire", or　火　. It even looks like fire, doesn't it? It was definitely one of the first kanji I learned. On March 18th, there will be a big celebration at the shrine in Aso City, where highly trained professionals* will swing flaming balls of hay on string around their heads. And it sounds amazing!

*I highly doubt these are trained professionals. I suspect this may be one of the more dangerous events in Japan.

And finally, hanami season, or blossom viewing season (hana means "flower", and mi is the root for "see") is on its way. The weekend of March 25th is the official start in this area. I've heard some say the blossoms will be late this year due to the cold, but I can also see some plum blossoms on trees. They're quite beautiful, and people are getting really excited. You can tell, even when people aren't talking about it, that it's a big deal. My phone's background has pictures that update automatically for the season. I had a snowman around Christmas, a pumpkin in October, and today I noticed cherry blossoms, or sakura, were my new background. It's coming! Spring is coming! It's too bad today was so cold and wet. I was hoping for nice weather tomorrow. Since I have Wednesday afternoons off to make up for my evening conversation class, I was going to head to the park in the city, where I've heard the blossoms are starting to look very pretty.