Art's old Air Force buddy, Ed asked if we would like to go to an early morning Mochitsuki Festival with him yesterday. He said that it was free though a donation would be appreciated from the first 100 families who arrived to pound New Years mochi. We decided to ask my brother, Dennis to come also because he's one of the few people we know who would be willing to wake up early to pick up some cultural heritage on Saturday.
On the way to Wahiawa, we were passed on the road by a whole bunch of VERY old looking cars in mint condition. We wondered where they were going.
It was surprising to find the International Hobushin Center grounds up a high hill.
This isn't an important photo, but I got such a chuckle over it that I had to post it. Although it says walkway, it leads you through a bit of a muddy grassy path.
We got to the mochi pounding area about 30 minutes before the 9:00 opening time.
We were family #7 in the waiting line.
Here they are steaming 2.5 pounds of sweet rice on each of the trays.
A priest then gave a blessing to everybody who gathered to make mochi.
I got this information about the Honbushin religion.
"The Honbushin faith is an offshoot of Shinto and is only about 50 years old, Yuhi says. The Hawaii congregation is small, just 20 or so members, although the faith has grown quickly in Japan."
The helpers first demonstrated how rice is mashed together first into a ball.
You then take turns pounding rhythmically as someone calls out the cadence.
The first ten families were then gathered for a blessing by the priest. He wished all of us a safe and happy new year.
There are no photos of me because I was too busy taking photos. Besides I saw a sign explaining that:
"The entire family works together to give thanks. The grandfather and father pound the mochi with the kine (wooden mallet). The grandmother and mother turn and mix the mochi in the usu (stone mortar). Then the whole family cut and shape the mochi. This symbolizes the family bond."
Helpers then came and collected the freshly pounded mochi.
We saw mallets of different sizes so that mallets were chosen to fit the size and strength of the person who would be wielding it. Even little children were able to get a few poundings in.
There were really nice daikon (Japanese radish) there. Mom loves the leaves so we bought one that still had the leave on it. It cost a dollar. No, Art didn't eat that, we bought a broken one.
On the way to Wahiawa, we were passed on the road by a whole bunch of VERY old looking cars in mint condition. We wondered where they were going.
It was surprising to find the International Hobushin Center grounds up a high hill.
This isn't an important photo, but I got such a chuckle over it that I had to post it. Although it says walkway, it leads you through a bit of a muddy grassy path.
We got to the mochi pounding area about 30 minutes before the 9:00 opening time.
We were family #7 in the waiting line.
Here they are steaming 2.5 pounds of sweet rice on each of the trays.
A priest then gave a blessing to everybody who gathered to make mochi.
I got this information about the Honbushin religion.
"The Honbushin faith is an offshoot of Shinto and is only about 50 years old, Yuhi says. The Hawaii congregation is small, just 20 or so members, although the faith has grown quickly in Japan."
The helpers first demonstrated how rice is mashed together first into a ball.
You then take turns pounding rhythmically as someone calls out the cadence.
The first ten families were then gathered for a blessing by the priest. He wished all of us a safe and happy new year.
There are no photos of me because I was too busy taking photos. Besides I saw a sign explaining that:
"The entire family works together to give thanks. The grandfather and father pound the mochi with the kine (wooden mallet). The grandmother and mother turn and mix the mochi in the usu (stone mortar). Then the whole family cut and shape the mochi. This symbolizes the family bond."
Helpers then came and collected the freshly pounded mochi.
The mochi was then brought to a tented area where Art, Ed and Dennis shaped the mochi into little paddies. You all remember how mom said each little paddy is the equivalent of a bowl of rice?
We saw mallets of different sizes so that mallets were chosen to fit the size and strength of the person who would be wielding it. Even little children were able to get a few poundings in.
There was a little farmer's market like stand there.
There were really nice daikon (Japanese radish) there. Mom loves the leaves so we bought one that still had the leave on it. It cost a dollar. No, Art didn't eat that, we bought a broken one.
It was fun to watch a taiko drumming exhibition...
and a hula halau (school) presentation.
As we were driving home out of the parking lot, we noticed all these antique cars we'd seen earlier.
We may live on a small island, but there seems to always be something going on somewhere. You just need friends like Ed to point us in that happy direction.
Now all we have to do is to find another time before 2014 to eat the mochi with some kinako (soy bean powder) and sugar!
What fun! It's so nice, the idea of teamwork to make the food, especially within the family. Glad your day was a smashing success.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a interesting post! And delighted to see the daikons. We call them white radishes, and use them mainly as a salad side dish. When the leaves are fresh, we also cook a vegetable dish from the radishes and leaves, both chopped up and stir fried and lightly spiced.
ReplyDeleteWhat tastes wonderful, is this radish grated, and then mixed with plain yogurt, with salt to taste, a few pinches of some cumin powder, and some finely chopped hot green peppers (like half a tspn). :-)
So many people here just discard the tops, but mom always said that the tops contained even more nutrients that shouldn't be wasted. Besides, it happens to be quite tasty. However, we'd never have thought to mix it with plain yogurt. That is very intriguing.
DeleteKay, the yogurt stuff is with the white radish part, not the leaves. The latter taste wonderful stirfried with the white radish part. The yogurt preparation often goes very well with rice pilaf/pulao preparations which are a bit spicy.
DeleteWell we have a poultry swap meet the third weekend of every month. It is quite festive. Guess I'll have to take pictures next time we go. Since ours is a resort area I'm sure there are lots of activities that we miss but even in the best of health we're not goers.
ReplyDeleteHow much mochi did you take home?
We gave most of the mochi to Ed and kept a little for us to have with Dennis since we still had left over mochi from when Art's Honokaa friend, Morris gave us a huge plateful before New Year's Day that he made. They're now all in the freezer.
DeleteWonderful post, Kay, you made me feel as if I was there with you.
ReplyDeleteI love how the whole family is involved even the little ones.
I also like that you found the antique cars too, I knew you would!
xx
How interesting...so much culture and history in your area...thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteDavid and I attended a mochi pounding party in Manoa. It seemed to take forever, but the mochi was absolutely delicious. Glad you had a good time.
ReplyDeleteMahalo for sharing your adventure. (I think Dennis should be a private tour guide.) Wish K.C. could could attend a moshi festival. DrumMajor
ReplyDeleteKC loves mochi!!! I have a feeling Tiffany will already have taken her to mochi type cultural affairs in Chicago. She also tries to impart some Korean traditions so KC can know both parts of her heritage.
DeleteI used to eat mochi. I loved it and forgot all about it until I read this post. I had no idea there is so much involved in its preparation. They have it in my local store, maybe I'll pick some up and think about life as I eat it. :-)
ReplyDeleteActually they have mochi making machines now that take all that work away. However, at New Years, it's more a fun celebration to get the family or community together to do this traditional dish.
DeleteThanks for sharing your experience. We have many events, etc. here too. I don't get out in crowds, however. Dianne
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting and lovely outing Kay, thanks for your wonderful photos, I enjoyed them.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to freeze the mochi for consumption later? We used to do that with our New Years Day mochi after presentation. Then to cook it, mom would soak the mochi in water. Much later (we no longer carry on the tradition of food presentation at the altar) we bought the square dried version from the grocery stores and never bothered to soak it, just pop it in the frying pan. I know they sell mochi makers like bread makers but texturewise is not as thick. Now to satisfy our mochi fix we buy mochi rice and cook it in the rice cooker with azuki beans.
ReplyDeleteL...w
We froze the mochi to have later since we've already had some on New Years Day. I really like the mochi with azuki beans, but I believe we'll have kinako mochi later when we can manage to get together.
DeleteThanks for the education today.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of reminds me of making lefse, lots of work, but fun because it's traditional in our cultures.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fascinating. thanks.
ReplyDeleteI so enjoyed reading this post Kay. How very interesting! I think its wonderful that so many traditions are shared. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed attending 'with' you! You folks got special blessings too. We eat daikon every day sliced raw in the evening. I am experimenting with putting the leaves in soups and stews. Never realized that one paddy was a bowl of rice! makes perfect sense. Did you see the forward by Dave Shapiro in my e-edition? Such a good man- have a free look-
ReplyDeleteAloha from Town-Side
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