The Secret Food Emoji You've Never Used Before
Untitled (Two Rabbits, Pampas Grass, and Full Moon) painting by Hiroshige, 1849, surrounded by Moon Viewing Ceremony Emoji. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
By Elyssa Goldberg
When I was a kid, I looked up at the night sky hoping to find the man in the moon. I told a Japanese friend this story, and she found this creepy. The moon myth she learned as a kid didn’t include a man at all. She looked to the sky to find bunnies.
Japanese kids learn about the rabbit on the moon, a bunny equipped with a pestle he uses to chip away at mochi. According to legend, the craters on the moon may actually be formed by removing the sweet sticky rice balls.
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Which brings us back to emoji. We’d like to consider ourselves well-versed in emoji (especially food ones), but there’s one we’ve never sent: the “moon-viewing ceremony emoji.” We just didn’t know what it meant or how to use it.
Moon viewing ceremony emoji. Credit: Emojistickers.com
Turns out, it’s about the moon bunny. Every September or October in Japan (this year, on September 27), there’s a Harvest Moon Festival, or Tsukimi, which literally translates to “moon-watching.” It’s a holiday to express gratitude for the autumn harvest and the beauty of nature. People set aside time for good food, good drink, and good company. (It’s a holiday we can really get behind.)
Japanese pampas grass, tsukimi dango (“moon-watching” mochi), and chestnuts set up for the Harvest Moon Festival. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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During the festival, the Japanese eat mini-mochi called tsukimi dango, which they pile in pyramids. And they decorate altars with Japanese pampas grass. Children who celebrate are supposed to look up at the night sky with mochi in hand and think of little bunnies pounding away to free up more moon mochi. They sing songs about the rabbit, too. Which explains that emoji: the moon, the heap of mini-mochi, and the pampas grass.
We’ll been sending this emoji to say goodnight to loved ones, because we’d rather count bunnies and piles of mochi before we fall asleep than count sheep any day.
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