節分に
ヒイラギを玄関にかざり、邪気を追い払うという習慣をネットで調べてみたら、ヒイラギの枝にさらにイワシの頭と十三月と書いた紙を刺す地方もあるとか。ヒイラギのトゲとイワシの臭いを嫌がり、十三月に驚いて考え込んでしまう鬼って・・・単純だな。とは言え、イワシの頭はクサ過ぎて鬼だけでなく近所つき合いまでも悪くなりそうなので却下。十三月とだけ紙に書いてヒイラギに刺しておいた。夜には歳徳神さまのいる北北西を向いて恵方巻を丸かぶりして、いわしのつみれ鍋。これで今年の福は確実にゲットかな？
People in some areas of Japan decorate their entrances with
holly twigs to prevent bad spirits from entering. And I found out that some people even add a burnt sardine head and a piece of paper reading "13th month". Apparently, the Oni (evil spirits) are quite simple-minded: they don't like spikes of holly and the smell of sardine. And they get confused by the idea of a 13th month. I also don't like the smell of burnt sardine, so I didn't use any, but I stuck a note saying "13th month" onto a twig of holly. In the evening, we ate rolled sushi (
ehoumaki) while facing towards the North by Northeast, that's where the lucky god is this year. It's a West Japanese custom. We had Sardine hotpot afterwards, so hopefully we collected lots of luck for this year.
