Amusing Day at School

I had an amusing day today at school. This was due in large part to the tradition of Setsubun. I think I mentioned this holiday in a previous post.

According to the ancient Japanese calendar, February 3rd is the eve of Spring. This means it’s a good time to do some Spring cleaning – of onis, that is. If you’ll remember, an oni is something like a nasty little demon/spirit. Well, this week is the traditional time to chase those guys away. That’s why Ridge had a party at his pre-school last week (I’m still waiting for Aaron to write a post about it). The way the bad spirits are chased away is by throwing beans. Well, actually, they throw peanuts, but I guess that counts, since peanuts are more closely related to beans than to nuts.

Anyway, when I showed up to teach my 5/6th grade class this morning, the teacher asked me if I knew about the bean-throwing thing (I forgot the Japanese name for it, sorry). I said yes and he wanted to know if we do it in America. I laughed and assured him it was strictly a Japanese tradition. Then he asked if we could throw some in my class. I, of course, happily conceded to his request. So, after the chimed sounded and class began, three of the girls put on oni masks and everyone got ready with their bags of peanuts. Even I had one! As soon as everyone was set, we began throwing the peanuts (in shell) at the girls. Soon enough, the teacher became a target, too. It was the funniest thing I’ve seen all week! It was hysterical to see a room full of 12 year-olds throwing peanuts as hard as they could at a couple of girls and their teacher, laughing all the while. When most of the peanuts had been scooped up and thrown multiple times, the students grabbed brooms, and within less than five minutes, the class was clean and it was time for my lesson. What a hoot!

Then, surprise, surprise, I was treated to the same ritual that afternoon in the middle school. This time, it was several teachers and students pelting two fellow students with peanuts. Everyone seems to really have a good time with it.