My parents were born in Hawaii and most of the family lives there, so we travel to Hawaii often. This time around, we went towards December and stayed through the New Year. Usually, when my family celebrates the New Year in California we stay up til midnight and maybe pop the little confetti cannons. But in Hawaii, we celebrated by doing traditions that were passed down in my culture.

My photo shows one of the many traditions, making mochi, a rice cake, to later have on New Year's Day. Traditionally, mochi is made by hand using a large wooden mallet and bowl, pounding the rice til it is smooth and sticky. This process is called mochitsuki. Over time, we have started to use manual machines that would do this process for us.

The photo shows my family forming the mochi after it has been pounded. Doing this with my family was refreshing after not doing these traditions back in California and helped me connect with my culture.