Setsubun is approaching: Eho-Maki

On February 3 is the famous festival of Setsubun.

One of the many traditions that japanese people follow during this holiday is to eat a Eho-maki. :

in this tradition, you need to eat this kind of food all in a row looking towards successful year, that for this year 2011 is south-southeast.

Setsubun (Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony) is the day before the beginning of each season in Japan.

The name literally means “seasonal division”, but usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival.

In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year’s Eve and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come.

This special ritual is called mamemaki (literally “bean throwing“).

Setsubun has its origins in tsuina , a Chinese custom introduced to Japan in the eight century.