January 11: Newcastle Brown

Same time every day
neighbor walks past our house
with another six-pack.

February 10: Bean-Throwing

In my Beginner's Japanese class tonight we learned about Setsubun, the Bean-Throwing Cermony held as part of the annual Spring Festival on February 3, the eve of spring in Japan. The ritual, called mamemaki, is supposed to drive away evil spirits from the year ahead. There was no little irony in imitating the ritual with our teacher by tossing beans outside the door into three feet of snow. If only it were really the cusp of spring here.

 

What you say:

Oni wa soto (demons outside)

Fuku wa uchi (happiness inside)

 

Beans tossed into snow--

if only this ritual

could conjure spring.

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December 31: New Year's Eve

We rang out the old year today by taking down the Christmas tree, carefully removing each beloved ornament, packing it away for another year. The process is always a bittersweet one for me. I love seeing the soft glow of the tree's white lights (and one string of red cardinal lights) each evening. And I enjoy the balsam fragrance of the live tree here in our living room. But it's time. Christmas has passed, needles are everywhere, and I like to begin the new year with a fresh, clean house. So down it came, and then the house-cleaning happened, and little things like filling the bird feeder. We showered and shaved. My husband is now making a salad to take to our friends' house for dinner. I've even paid my current bills, so I can start the new year debt free.

A dear friend has a ritual that the first thing that passes her lips in the new year is smoked salmon. Other friends have posted things on Facebook about grapes and black-eyed peas. The peas are lucky in some way, and apparently you're supposed to stuff your mouth with 12 grapes and then spit out the seeds. For me, I guess my ritual is to start the year in good shape, with a clean house and a clean slate.

Hard rain washes clean
yard, house, cars... washes away
the last of the year.