We have a tradition of eating mu-chi- on Mu-chi-(ムーチー) day in Okinawa.
I can imagine that most of you are thinking,
"What's that? What's mu-chi-??"
Well, mu-chi- is a type of streamed rice cake wrapped in getto (月桃) leaves. Mu-chi- day is on the 8th of December in lunar calendar in Okinawa, and this year's mu-chi- day fell on the 11th of January. Traditionally, we are supposed to pray for the children's health and well being. There's an interesting story behind this tradition.
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Legend has it that there was a man who was originally from Shuri (首里), our old capital city. He was a lonely man (he lost his parents when he was very young, and his little sister got married and moved to another Okinawan island) and eventually turned into an ogre and attacked animals and children to eat every night. Nobody could do anything about it. His sister heard about this and decided to see him taking his favourite food - rice cake but put iron nails inside. His sister took him to the cliff and gave him the special rice cake. While he was suffering in pain, his sister pushed him down the cliff. So no more ogre! This event happened on the 8th of December (in lunar calendar) apparently. That's how this tradition started.
Mu-chi- day is also called mu-chi-bi-sa, and it's supposed to be the coldest day of the year in Okinawa. (Am I right, my Okinawan friends?)
By the way, kanji (or Chinese character) for mu-chi- is 鬼餅. 鬼 means devil, and 餅 means rice cake.
My family make mu-chi- every year. The photos you can see below were taken back in the early 2009.
Wish I were there to make and eat it..... If you are in Okinawa, you should definitely try it!! If you do, make sure to eat one extra for me and let me know how you like it :)
