At 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26, the morning after Winter Ball, campus was almost entirely deserted. It was still cold out, and patches of snow covered the grass. Near the flagpole, however, a small group of figures huddled in a circle of chairs. They were the only people in sight.
Hours later, while Rastall brunch was in full swing, Worner was packed with people. Outside, the same circle of chairs was now surrounded by people. Epic classical music played from a speaker set up on the flagpole, and in the center of the circle, bright orange Home Depot buckets holding mallets were arranged around a hollowed-out wooden stump.
A long line snaked around the chairs, composed of community members and Colorado College students alike. When they reached the front, each person was handed a large wooden mallet — smaller mallets for children, and larger ones for adults — and told to pound the ball of doughy rice in the middle of the stump.
This is mochitsuki, a traditional Japanese rice-pounding ceremony that typically takes place around the end of December and beginning of January, in celebration of the new year. It’s hosted by the Japanese-American Society of Southern Colorado, an organization with long-held ties to CC.
“One!” the crowd chanted, as the mallet struck the ball of rice and a man standing nearby darted in to turn the dough with his hands. “Two!” the man said, then laughed good-naturedly as the next strike bounced off the rim of the stump.
A woman balancing a large donations jar on her head wound through the crowd, calling, “You don’t just hit it, you also eat it!”
Inside, little kids ran underfoot as people swarmed tables laden with mochi samples. Mochi is pounded until it reaches a “cool nifty stretchy consistency,” said Karen Jordan, a CC alumna and long-time member of the society.
Displayed on the tables were various samples of Japanese mochi dishes, examples of what the rice being pounded outside could eventually become. There was goma, mochi with sesame seeds; anko, mochi with sweet bean jam; abekawa, mochi with soybean flour; isobe, mochi wrapped in seaweed; and oshiruko, sweet red-bean soup with mochi.
“Eating mochi is good luck,” Jordan said.
The Japanese-American Society of Southern Colorado is dedicated to sharing Japanese culture at events like this.They don’t care about Japanese descent so much as an interest in Japanese culture, and they welcome people of all races into the organization. Paul Maruyama, CC professor of Japanese, used to be a president of the society, and they host this festival at CC every year due to this connection and the central location of campus.
The Japanese-American Society hosts various cultural events throughout the year, including Asian cooking classes, Japanese language classes, and various festivals. They organize a trip to Japan and homestay with a Japanese family that is open to community members in the summer. Their events tend to be popular, according to Jordan: they estimate about 300 people show up to the mochitsuki event every year.
In May, the Japanese-American Society will be holding a Kodomo-no-Hi, or Children’s Day, celebration in Cornerstone.
“If you have a kimono and nowhere to wear it, we can hook you up,” Jordan said.