🍚 Meno Mochi Arare (Bite-sized Japanese Rice Crackers made from Old Decorations)

"Meno mochi kazari" is a traditional event taking place in the southern Kyushu area on Little New Year. Decorations using rice cakes are put up in homes to wish for a bountiful harvest and safety of the family. Colorful "mochi" (=rice cakes) in the colors red and white, yellow, and green are made on the morning of every January 15th and hung up as decorations. Branches of Japanese hackberry are cut off in the early morning before birds start to chirp. The rice cakes are put on the branches and hung up in the alcoves, kitchen, entrance, Buddhist altars and gravestones. These decorations are hung up until January 30th, after which they are taken down and the colorful "mochi" (=rice cakes) are taken off the branches and deep fried to make "arare" (=bite-sized Japanese rice crackers). The word "me" in the name of the decorations is said to have come from the word "mayu," which means cocoon in Japanese. The decorations were first made with wishes for an abundance in the production of cocoons. After that, the decorations were considered lucky, a way to fight off evil spirits and wish for a bountiful harvest. They were also a way of celebrating the arrival of spring. "Arare" (=bite-sized Japanese rice crackers) was served at the Imperial Court during the Nara period to envoys visiting Japan from China and other countries. An earlier version of "arare" is "arare-mochi / tama-arare," a type of "kakimochi" (=dried cut mochi), which was available during the Heian period as noted in the "Yamashiro-fudoki" (=topographical report of Yamashiro Province). By the Edo period, "arare" (=bite-sized Japanese rice crackers) was being produced in large amounts. The name "arare" comes from the sound that mochi makes when it is roasted or from the word "arare" which means hail as the rice crackers resemble pellets of frozen rain.