This past Saturday was Setsubun (節分) in Japan. It's a seasonal celebration each year on February 3rd marking the transition from the coldest days of winter to the coming days of spring.
People mark the occasion by cleansing their homes of evil spirits that have lingered over the past year, while welcoming good fortune into the home. Traditionally this is done by throwing roasted soybeans out your front door at a family member wearing a devil mask . This is called mamemaki or "bean scattering". While tossing the beans you are screaming "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" which means "Devil get out! Good fortune in!"
As a way to ensure good luck for the year you are then supposed to eat the number of soybeans that correspond to your age. Recently, people found that picking up the beans and eating them after throwing them outside into the muck wasn't exactly sanitary, so shelled peanuts have been adopted to do the job instead. I had a lot of fun experiencing this occasion with the Hashimoto family, though I definitely had my fill by the time I got through 24 peanuts!
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