Demons out! Happiness in!

Setsubun this year was 2/3. In Japan Setsubun (literally means "seasonal division") is a festival held one day before the start of official spring according to the Japanese calendar. It is not a national holiday but we do a little ceremony on this day. We celebrate Setsubun by throwing roasted soybeans to the outside and throwing at Oni (demon) saying "Oni wa soto!" (means "Demons out!"), and throwing beans inside the house saying "Fukuwa uchi!" (means "Happiness in!").
As you might already understand, we want demons to go outside of the house and happiness to come in :)

On the real Setsubun day, my husband (role of demon) was out for a business trip. My good friend and I went to a Sushi restaurant that night and had a great time and good sushi. Her husband was also on a business trip that day. It was a mom's night out with kids. I enjoyed my favorite uni (sea urchin) at the sushi place. When the cat's away, the mice will eat uni! Because if the cat's with me, he always tells me "don't keep eating expensive sushi only". I eat them anyways, though.
After the demon (husband) came back, we did a belated Setsubun performance today.

"Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!"
While screaming "Oni wa soto!" my daughter and I were throwing beans at my husband who was wearing a mask of demon. Fun fun fun! There are not many opportunities you can throw hard beans at your husband happily. I told them that we are supposed to eat the number of beans corresponding to your age.

When I was in Japan I was living without thinking about this kind of small traditional events and sometimes tended to dismiss it. But now here in the United States if I don't do it, my daughter doesn't get to know traditional things which my family told me as I grew up. I am a Japanese mother now!