end of the year traditions

[alantani]

what are yours?

my grandmother started ours.  she and my aunts would clean that dirty, dusty old farm house starting before christmas.  the cleaning would continue until just before new years.  several days before new years, they'd start cooking.  on new years eve, the women would still be cooking, the guys would play poker, and the kids would hang out by the bonfire.  then on new years morning, we have a huge new years day meal.  it would start with ozoni, a very plain soup made of fish stock some vegetables and pounded rice cake called mochi.  it was light toasted and tossed into the soup.  the soup was supposed to bring good luck for the rest of the year.  

but there was more to just new years than food.  my grandmother explained that you should never carry things over from one year to the next.  before the end of the year, you had to pay all of your debts, return all things borrowed, fulfill all promises and apologize to all those that you had offended.  not sure which was harder, this stuff or cleaning the house.  maybe best to start returning stuff, then paying off those debts if you can.  the garage can wait.....  

[Bryan Young]

Nothing borrowed.  check.

Debts?  No money so paying off the house would have to wait.

If I had offended anyone, I've already apologied or don't know about it.  So, if I offended you, let me know 'cause I'm kinda dense sometimes.

Alan, are you guys going to pound rice this year?  I need 20#s steamed and pounded.     And since I had to travel right after thanksgiving, we missed my inlaws pounding.

[alantani]

it's been 20 years since i've pounded mochi.  it would be too much work for me now.  that's what we have kids for!

[Pescachaser]

Hi Everyone:  I am surprised Sal and Dom did not chime in.  When my mother was alive we had a very popular Christmas Eve dinner.  The Feast of the Seven Fishes.  Here is an quote from Wikipedia.

"The Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci), celebrated on Christmas Eve, also known as The Vigil (La Vigilia), is believed to have originated in Southern Italy and is not a known tradition in many parts of Italy. Today, it is a feast that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. Some Italian American families have been known to celebrate with 9, 11 or 13 different seafood dishes. This celebration is a commemoration of the wait, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus."

After Mom passed away my aunts carried on the tradition.  Now most of the aunts are gone or too feeble to cook such an undertaking.  These memories are not sad, but happy times that I had.  I miss a lot of things about the Feast, but man did the house stink the next day.        Buon Natale  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.  Dominick

[Alto Mare]

Alan, I love that picture. Are those tools handmade? It brought back memories to me of when I was a kid in Italy.We used to beat dried beans with a tool that resembled chop sticks, only three times longer. I know what you mean about keeping up with the rhythm. If you didn't, you would get a bad headeache.
Dominick, My mother used to start at 5:00 a.m. to get everything ready for la festa dei sette pecsi. The problem was that it was more like two dozen species. One of my brothers used to go to NY and spend $500 to $600 on seafood. We ate lots of fish from the Mediterranean, but the two that never missed were baccala', which is dried cod, and eel. My mother has passed away, but we still keep the tradition. It used to be at my house for many years, now my niece and nephew took over...I'm glad, that stuff is expensive. Also, it's hard to get that "fishy" smell out of the house!
Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo to all. Sal

[Pescachaser]

I forgot to mention that my wife's family has a tradition for making poppy seed "cake."  I put cake in quotes because it is basically a sweet bread dough with layers of sugar cream and pounded poppy seeds.  Yes the Japanese pound their Moshi, the Hawaiians pound their Poi and the Germans pound their poppy seeds.  I showed the picture to my wife and she was impressed with the mallets.  They put the poppy seed in a coffee can and pound it with a baseball bat.  Not as efficient as the Moshi mallets.  It even slides off the tongue nice.  Dominick

[Bryan Young]

We pound with family and friends.  I'm sorry to miss it this year.  Great time to see extended family.  We also do it at my grandma's house the day after Christmas with electric mochi makers.  Like rice cookers with beaters inside.

So, who's the rice flipper that has to put his hands in between the pounding?  I think you have to have a lot of trust in the guys pounding.  Several times, my wife's uncle and cousin almost got crunched.  Ouch.

[Normslanding]

Thanks for sharing. I know I am not a regular and I learn on the site almost every day. I would like to share, as this brings back memories of my youth. We grew up in the south bay. Most of my growing up was at 22nd. Street landing, and Norms landing. So a lot of the Gardena community fished at both landings. Also my wifes dad grew up with a guy named Su Aktagawa. Basically Su's family raised my wifes dad.
We were always invited to New Years for the family feast, and gathering. Prior to the big day we would help pound rice. Also we would go to the "Spot Market" to get goodies, there was a little excitement in the air.
It's a different world in Florida. Sure can't wait to see family, and friends in SoCal, then get out.
Thanks to every one that contributes to this site, happy holidays.

[alantani]

i spent a year living in gardena with my grandfather on my mom's side.  he had a small place on mariposa.  spot market was where he and i did all of our shopping.  this was all during my pharmacy residency 30 years ago.  it was great.  i got to stay there for free.  i just paid the utilities and grocery bills, did the cooking and cleaning, and mostly kept the frig stocked with beer and the cupboards stocked with sake.  it was like a frat house.  

[redsetta]

Great thread lads.
Couldn't help but reflect on Dominick's comment:

These memories are not sad, but happy times that I had...

My family's Irish (my father's a first-generation Kiwi) and we used to have a variety of traditions while my Grandma and Great Aunt were alive.
They and their brothers lived through some incredibly hard times (including the Black and Tans), which took most of my family, one way or another.
It's probably a familiar story, but as time's passed, most of our traditions have faded or disappeared entirely.
Since the kids came along, however, my wife (who's from Tipperary) and I have endeavoured to revive some of them - cleaning the house from top-to-bottom before decorating the tree as a family, hanging holly from the front door, calling the day after Christmas 'St Stephens' rather than 'Boxing Day', playing lots of Irish music and Christmas movies, and drinking plenty of Baileys/whiskey...  
It's not much, but it helps keep the family 'alive' through the generations...
Nollaig Shona Duit! Happy Christmas to you all.
"May your glass be ever full, may the roof over your head be always strong, and may you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead."

[Killerbug]

In my culture of barbarians, we only have a few traditions left like eating cod, and jumping down from a chair. This is symbolizing, entering the new year
without danger.   So maybe I should make mochi as well, but I will use one of these 

[Bryan Young]

Is that rice noodle?

[Pescachaser]

It looks like rice sausage .

[Alto Mare]

We should get one of those Dominick. I do make my own pork sausages. Looks like it could handle 5lb. of meat per load, must also have a nice gear ratio...its moving along nice and smooth.

[redsetta]

Looks like it could handle 5lb...

Probably more with some Carbontex and Cal's...