|
|||||||||
|
Mamemaki Festival
This festival falls in February every year. This festival is also known as ‘Bean Throwing Festival’. The main idea of this festival is to drive away demons or devils, bad luck and evil spirits from the house. In most homes in Japan, it is celebrated by either the grandfather or father wearing a demon mask. Children sprinkle Soya beans on them so as to drive away the demons from their houses.
Preparation for the lunar New Year is achieved with bean throwing ceremonies. On this festival day, colourfully dressed demons and plenty of high profile celebrities appear at temples and shrines so as to help with bean throwing or by tossing handful of beans to the large crowd outside for good luck.
Another widely observed custom is to eat the same numbers of beans as the person’s own age, plus one for the coming year. People wish each other good luck and eat big seaweed rolls, sushi and don’t speak for sometime after they have eaten. |
Webmaster replies
I hope these festivals keep going and do not die away with the passage of time. I think they are important. What do others think?
Contact us if you want to comment on this article. |
||||||||
| Note: The articles on this page remains the property of the individual and should not be used for any other purpose unless explicitly authorised by the author. | |||||||||
