With all that was going on in February, it was easy for smaller events to be overlooked. For instance, while Lunar New Year dominated most of the month, it wasn't the only Asian holiday being celebrated. On the old Japanese calendar, the turning of the season from winter to spring, Setsubun, typically occurs on February 3rd, give or take a day. It wasn't quite the same thing as celebrating the New Year, but it did mark the shift from one year to the next. And as such, it was a time of time of cleansing rituals.
The main ritual associated with Setsubun is mamemaki. This involved throwing roasted soybeans out the front door or at a family member wearing an oni mask while shouting "Devils out! Fortune in!" The beans are meant to symbolically cleanse the house of bad luck and evil spirits. Scholars would note an interesting similarity of this ritual to the Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival in which beans were also thrown at evil spirits to drive them out. Of course, the Lemuria was held at a different time of the year, but the resemblance was remarkable.
On Heiya Island, Setsubun was celebrated while they got ready for the Lunar New Year festival. It didn't involve as much festivity, considering they were reserving most of it for the bigger festival. But there was plenty of bean-throwing, quite often at tourists who were getting a little too handsy. There was was quite a lot of sweeping up to do after that.
Though probably one of the biggest spectacles at Setsubun were the role reversals in appearance. The custom was that people dressed differently from what normally wore. Young women would wear the hairstyles of older women and vice versa. People wore clothes from the opposite sex. It was considerably more noticeable for the men than the women, particularly at the geisha house.
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"You know, in Noh theater, traditionally all the actors are men, despite the roles they are portraying," said Huoxing, who was wearing red clothing of the same style that would have belonged to a Japanese ronin.
"I'm sure they pull it off better," grumbled Gang. How did he let himself get talked into wearing this kimono? It was annoyingly tight at the waist.
"Well, traditions have been relaxed since then," said Huoxing, "Feminist progression has made a lot of, well, progress."
"I'm just glad I don't have to wear makeup," said Gang.
"Aw, but you'd look so cute," said Huoxing playfully.
"Frankly, I'm more interested in the Lunar New Year," said Gang.
"It's the same day as in Tibet, right?" asked Huoxing.
"Of course," said Gang.
"Ah, so I bet you're expecting some yaks to be involved," said Huoxing.
"Maybe, maybe not. I can't imagine that many people are interested in becoming yaks," said Gang.
"Yeah, they probably wouldn't want to smell bad," said Huoxing.
"Actually, yaks have almost no smell," said Gang, "Not even their dung. Their wool is particularly odor-resistance."
"How convenient for them," said Huoxing.
"Anyways, yak racing wouldn't be quite as exciting if the racer was the yak," said Gang, "I'd sure like to see some of that."
"Not sure if we have enough open land for that kind of race," said Huoxing, "Not to mention it'd be pretty weird for cattle Animalians to be riding cattle."
"About as weird as apes riding horses?" asked Gang, raising an eyebrow.
"That's a completely different circumstance and you know it," said Huoxing, giving Gang a playful shove.