doll's day festival

According to Japanese tradition, the next seasonal divide after Setsubun is the Hinamatsuri (Doll's Day festival) on March 3. In English translation, it is often called Girl's Day festival, because the festival is all about health and the cultural virtues that Japanese parents wish for their daughters to attain as they grown up into women. Virtues such as elegance, graciousness, and familiarity with the classic arts are symbolized in a stepped display of dolls depicting the imperial court. The dolls and intricate little props, which are often heirlooms going back many many generations, are carefully removed from their boxes and wrappings and set up on a platform some time before March 3. But they must be dismantled and re-packed as soon as the festival day is over, or (some say) the daughters risk growing up to be old maids.

At the top of the stepped platform sit the two main dolls that represent the emperor and empress, dressed as they would have been in the Heian period (794 to 1185) when the imperial court was at its peak. Little girls dress up and have tea parties, while their doting relatives look on and take jillions of photographs with the doll display in the background. It is difficult to resist the popularity of this festival (even if you would want to), and we fell into the spirit of the festival too, when our daughter was a little bitty thing of about two or three. Like most other Japanese festivals, this one is associated with specific foods having symbolic significance that we only get to enjoy at this time of year. I confess that is always my favorite part. ;p

The etegami at the top shows the Empress doll, and the writing is a line from the Hinamatsuri song, a children's song that is always sung to death at this time of year. The etegami in the center of the image below shows two simple hina dolls on a peach blossom-shaped cushion. Peach blossoms are an integral part of this festival, and the festival itself is often called "Peach Festival."