Oni wa soto! Marie wa uchi!
Funny stuff happens when I go to elementary school.
"Here, take this," a teacher said. She was holding a big paper mask with the image of a classical Japanese oni (demon) painted onto it. "Put it on."
She said this as she donned her own mask and started towards the gym, beckoning me to follow.
I shrugged and put on my mask. When in Rome and all that, right? It was a little awkward with my glasses, but I made it work.
Just before we entered the gym (where I could see the whole school milling around, shouting, laughing, and everyone holding a bag of something), the teacher stopped me and said: "Marie, do you know about Setsubun?"
Setsubun... Setsubun, I thought. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place it.
"The children throw beans at the oni for luck," the teacher said. "Is it okay that you be a demon?"
Is it okay for me to be a demon? I grinned behind my mask. "I can be a demon."
The few short words from the principle about respecting the dignity of the teachers pretending to be oni were all forgotten in the mad bean-throwing haze.
Chants of "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (Demons are out, luck is in!) from our beany tormentors filled the gym.
We demons could only stand there and take it for so long before we were roaring savagely and lifting squirming victims above our heads. I eventually succumbed to the beans and died a slow, tragic death worthy of an encore at Minami-za.
A group of first years descended on me and took off my mask while yelling my human name. Healed of my demon nature by the power of cute, I joined the kids in eating a set number of beans according to our ages. No one knew my age and delighted in counting out my beans (in English!) until they reached the magic number. There was a lot of cheering at that point which I found hilarious. TWENTY-FOUR! YAAAAY!
The only bad thing about today was that I didn't bring my camera. Oh, and sweeping the gym afterwards.
"Here, take this," a teacher said. She was holding a big paper mask with the image of a classical Japanese oni (demon) painted onto it. "Put it on."
She said this as she donned her own mask and started towards the gym, beckoning me to follow.
I shrugged and put on my mask. When in Rome and all that, right? It was a little awkward with my glasses, but I made it work.
Just before we entered the gym (where I could see the whole school milling around, shouting, laughing, and everyone holding a bag of something), the teacher stopped me and said: "Marie, do you know about Setsubun?"
Setsubun... Setsubun, I thought. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place it.
"The children throw beans at the oni for luck," the teacher said. "Is it okay that you be a demon?"
Is it okay for me to be a demon? I grinned behind my mask. "I can be a demon."
The few short words from the principle about respecting the dignity of the teachers pretending to be oni were all forgotten in the mad bean-throwing haze.
Chants of "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (Demons are out, luck is in!) from our beany tormentors filled the gym.
We demons could only stand there and take it for so long before we were roaring savagely and lifting squirming victims above our heads. I eventually succumbed to the beans and died a slow, tragic death worthy of an encore at Minami-za.
A group of first years descended on me and took off my mask while yelling my human name. Healed of my demon nature by the power of cute, I joined the kids in eating a set number of beans according to our ages. No one knew my age and delighted in counting out my beans (in English!) until they reached the magic number. There was a lot of cheering at that point which I found hilarious. TWENTY-FOUR! YAAAAY!
The only bad thing about today was that I didn't bring my camera. Oh, and sweeping the gym afterwards.