Setsubun

Posted on 2015/02/07 06:04:47 (February 2015).

[Tuesday 3rd February 2015]
Setsubun, the 3rd of February, heralds the beginning of spring in Japan. The occasion is marked by a member of the family dressing up in a sort of devil mask, and then exclaiming "bad spirits outside, good spirits inside". Whilst throwing dried beans. We did a miniature version of that this evening.

For dinner I attempted to make something vaguely Mexican - Quorn chilli served confusingly with flour tortillas and various other trimmings. This was interrupted by one of our neighbours setting off an emergency alarm, which prompted me to go and see what the problem was. She is rather advanced in her years, and, I hope I will not be considered unkind for saying, not entirely in possession of her faculties. She started embarking on her life story as I attempted, in vain, to find out what the actual problem was which had caused her to sound the alarm. After a while, without any actual tangible problem having been identified, Chie and Erika came to rescue me. Erika was of course an instant hit, and the requirement to put her to bed allowed me to be excused from my assistance in whatever it was I was supposed to be assisting with.

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