Girls Day

So today is the festival of hinamatsuri, also known as Girls Day and here is the full doll display that I have blipped parts of over the last month.  All of the dolls wear court dress from the height of Japanese culture, the Heian period. 

Traditionally, only homes with a daughter may display the doll set. The display goes up at the middle of February and must be taken down on March 4th.  If left up after that, depending on family tradition, the house will experience overall bad luck, the girl will have difficulty marrying, and/or the dolls may come to life and wreak some sort of havoc. At a minimum, the neighbors will talk!

One of the most important features of  hinamatsuri is that the doll sets are often passed down from generation to generation, in an unbroken chain of infants, girls, young women, mothers and grandmothers. 

Girl’s Day also comes with its own special food.  Almost everyone buys Hishi-mochi, rice cakes of pink (for peach flowers), white (for snow), and green (for the new growth of spring.)