Oshogatsu festival in Little Tokyo, Sunday, Jan. 4

As with any good festival, food is usually at least one focus, and the annual Oshogatsu (New Year’s) Family Festival, at the Japanese American National Museum, is no exception.

At the free festival on Sunday in downtown L.A., mochi (sweet rice), a traditional New Year’s food in Japan, will be prominent. In fact, at the National Museum Plaza, Pasadena-based drumming group Kodama Taiko will pay it homage with a mochitsuki (pounding of sweet rice) ceremony at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

The festival will also feature opportunities to sample mochi and other auspicious foods traditionally eaten at this time of year for good luck and good health, event organizers say.

Other draws of the day will include storytelling and theatrical entertainment by We Tell Stories, as well as hands-on demonstrations of crafts such as origami (the art of paper folding) and traditional dolls. Sunday also marks the closing date of the multi-artist “Dreams to Dreams” vinyl show at the museum.

When: Jan. 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Contact: Japanese American National Museum, (213) 625-0414

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Women forming mochi balls, in a past year's Oshogatsu celebration. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 10:05 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Family & Kids, Festival, Los Angeles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.