Before the New Year dawns, all good orthodox Japanese set about the preparation of Mochi, a dumpling made of rice pounded into flour by huge wooden mallets as this Mochi is offered to the god before being eaten, its ceremonial preparation is carefully guided by ritual. Young men of a mountain village in Nagano coming out of the cold waters of a river, on Jan. 3, 1937, after purifying themselves for the task of pounding new rice into flour to make Mochi. They took their wooden mallets in with them, but not much else. (AP Photo)

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