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Today is the first day of spring on the Japanese calendar. Not the modern calendar, but the old traditional calendar.
On the first day of spring, people are supposed to chase bad luck out of the houses and welcome in good fortune. That fortune takes the form of Japanese demons, and the children chase them away by throwing some kind of beans at them. Traditionally they use soybeans, but nowadays many people use peanuts so that after the event they can be collected and eaten.
Today, Kyler is the Oni, or Japanese demon, and we chased him around the house and out the front door by throwing peanuts at him and chanting:
‘Oni ga soto- fuku wa uchi’
Bad fortune be gone- welcome to good fortune.
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