FEBRUARY – OUT WITH IT

Use February to throw out

In Japan, people celebrate Setsubun at the beginning of February, symbolically throwing out the demons of the old year. An excellent idea.

Setsubun to drive out the demons

At the beginning of February, you can observe an old tradition everywhere in Japan: Setsubun. A brave person among friends, colleagues or family puts a paper demon mask in front of their face and everyone else throws roasted soybeans at them. As they throw them, they shout “Demons out, luck in”.

The idea behind this is to symbolically drive out the demons of the previous year and start spring more easily.

Traditional demon masks, Japan © Alamy Stock Photo

Afterwards, there are certain lucky dishes to eat, which can be buckwheat noodles, a kind of vegetable soup similar to minestrone, or ehomaki rolls. The roll and the buckwheat noodles should not be cut so as not to symbolically cut off the good luck. It wouldn’t be Japan if there weren’t other, very precise guidelines: the ehomaki roll is to be eaten in silence and you should look in a certain lucky direction, which is determined anew every year.

In some families, each family member also eats as many roasted soybeans as their age, plus an extra bean for another happy year of life.

Get rid of ballast

Of course, you have to clean all the soybeans out of your home or office afterwards. People like to use this to throw away lots of other things too. At the end of the day, spring starts with more ease. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, which was used in Japan before the Western calendar, spring starts at the beginning of February and the period of severe cold in winter is over.

A nice tradition that you can also do without a demon mask and bean throwing. Because we think it’s a very interesting method of tidying up that involves using every day in February to throw away things you want to get rid of.

Of course, this does not necessarily mean the recycling center, but rather the circular economy, because you can also get rid of things that have literally collected dust and no longer bring joy by giving them away or selling them.

February is the ideal month

The days are getting longer, Christmas and the cold, dark month of January are over. Spring can sometimes be glimpsed in the sky and in the air; the strength is increasing.

Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan © GloriousMe

However, as we usually spend even more time at home compared to the meteorological spring and summer, the month of February is ideal for getting rid of unnecessary things. This creates space for new things or simply for a more pleasant emptiness.

Continuously let go

February is a relatively short month, so it’s easier to actually stick to the rhythm of letting go a little every day.

This can vary greatly from day to day. On some days, it’s easy to get rid of things that are more of a burden than a pleasure. On other days, it feels like you pick up each book three times before you put it back on the shelf.

FIONA BENNET

For some things, such as the closet, you need a relatively long time, because all the experts agree that you can only succeed if you remove all the contents and critically examine them piece by piece in daylight and in front of the mirror before deciding whether they should go or stay.

On other days, the only thing that gets thrown out is a gift that is certainly meant to be nice, but that you can’t do anything with. It’s better to please someone else with this gift than to store it away to place it tactically at the crucial moment of a visit.

The key is to use every day in February to throw something away. You will notice that the routine is very beneficial. Some of the things you put back on day 5 will be easy to part with on day 9.

The routine ultimately leads to the brain “pre-sorting” for the coming throw-away days and it becomes quicker and easier to part with things at the end of the month.

If you’re on the slopes in February and can’t use every day, there’s nothing to stop you continuing in March.

Unfortunately, we cannot easily banish many demons that operate worldwide – so it is sometimes good for the soul to be able to act as we see fit in our own area.

#Advertising #ProductPlacement #IndependentRecommendation #BecauseWeLoveIt