1/18/2016

Soy beans for Setsubun

After I picked my children up, we stooped at the unmanned fruits and vegetables sale stand near the nursery school the previous evening.

We found a bag of soy beans there.

I asked my children:

"I think it is for Setsubun. Do you want to eat them this year? I will roast and sprinkle salt on them."

"Yes! I want to eat them!"

I bought it.

Setsubun is on February 3rd, it is known as the last day of winter in Japan.

We throw beans to ward off bad luck (devil),  to drive out devil and call in good luck (fortune) into our house on the day of Setsubun.


After we finish throwing beans, we gather them all and eat the same number of beans as our age.

It is said that if we eat one extra, it will stop us getting sick and we will stay healthy for the whole year.

But since I don't like soy beans very much, we had not eaten them so far.

When I found the beans, I changed my mind because they looked delicious.

I thought that maybe my 6-year-old daughter would get angry on Setsubun because she is the youngest in our family and her share will be only 7 beans.

She will surely say:

"That's not fair! I want to eat more of them!"


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5 comments:

  1. Hello Kumi-san,

    Interesting post. I had not heard about the Setsubun festival before, an interesting topic. I am not sure I would eat the number of soy beans matching my age as it would take too long. Though from what I read soy beans are a healthy food so eating a lot of them probably would help with your health :)

    Here are the issues found in the article:

    This line:
    After I picked my children up, we stooped at the unmanned fruits and vegetables sale stand near the nursery school last evening.

    Should be:
    After I picked my children up, we stooped at the unmanned fruits and vegetables sale stand near the nursery school (last night/the previous evening).

    This line:
    "Yes! I want to eat!"

    Should be:
    "Yes! We want to eat them!"

    This line:
    We throw beans to bad luck (devil) to drive out devil and call in good luck (fortune) in a house at the day of Setsubun.

    Should be:
    We throw beans (to ward off/for protection from) bad luck, to drive out the devil and call in good luck (fortune) into our house on the day of Setsubun.

    This line:
    It is said that if we eat one extra, it means to keep us from sickness and stay healthy for the whole year.

    Should be:
    It is said that if we eat one extra, it will stop us getting sick and we will stay healthy for the whole year.

    This line:
    But since I don't like soy beans very much, we didn't eat them so far.

    Should be:
    But since I don't like soy beans very much, I didn't eat many.

    This line:
    When I found the beans, I changed my mind because it looked delicious.

    Should be:
    When I found the beans, I changed my mind because they looked delicious.

    This line:
    Maybe my 6-year-old daughter will get angry on Setsubun because she is the youngest in our family and her share will be only 7 beans.

    Should be:
    I thought that maybe my 6-year-old daughter would get angry on Setsubun because she is the youngest in our family and her share will be only 7 beans.

    This line:
    She will surely say like this:

    Should be:
    She will surely say:

    This line:
    "That's not fair! I want to eat them more!"

    Should be:
    "That's not fair! I want to eat more of them!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Terry!
      Thank you for another correction.

      About this correction:

      This line:
      But since I don't like soy beans very much, we didn't eat them so far.

      Should be:
      But since I don't like soy beans very much, I didn't eat many.

      I wanted to write that we had not eaten beans so far.
      I tried to change my sentence.
      Isn't it strange for you?


      Delete
  2. Hello Kumi-san,

    I read your rewritten sentence:

    But since I don't like soy beans very much, we had not eaten them so far.

    The above sentence is a little confusing because of this part:

    we had not eaten them so far.

    Reason: This implies that you had already collected the beans but have not yet eaten any of them.

    Since you wanted to say that you don't like soy beans but you had not eaten any of them yet anyway, I would rewrite the whole sentence to say:

    I (generally/usually) don't like soy beans but I had not yet collected or eaten any of the soy beans.

    Reason: The above sentence makes clear two things, first that you usually do not like soy beans, and the second thing is that you had not yet collected the beans or eaten any of them (yet).

    Hope this helps. Let me know if anything is unclear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Terry!
      Thank you for your suggestion.

      How about this sentence?

      I generally don't like soy beans, so we throw beans to Oni and gather them on Setsubun every year, but we had not yet eaten any of them so far.

      It is clearer?

      Delete
  3. Hi Kumi-san,

    Yes that sentence is much clearer.

    ReplyDelete