Girls' Day/Doll's Festival in Japan

Isn't is awesome that Japan has a special day for all girls?

And aren't those dolls pretty?

Hina dolls

We call the day Hinamatsuri, and it is March 3 (yes, it's next Monday!).

We display Hina dolls and eat some special food to celebrate and pray for the happiness and healthy growth of girls in each household.

The main thing of this event is annual display of hina dolls. We display the dolls because there is a belief that dolls get bad spirits and bad lucks instead of girls. The dolls wear costumes of imperial court during the Heian period (794-1192) and are place on a tiered platform covered with red felt. The size of dolls and the number of step vary in each household, but every household has at least a empress doll and a emperor doll.

There are certain orders and rules to display hina dolls, such as putting the empress doll and the emperor doll on the first platform. I'm not going to write about them today because it will be too long. So if you want to know about orders and riles of display more, please look them up online or ask you Japanese friends!

We eat some special food on Hinamatsuri.

One thing we can't forget to eat is Hina-arare (rice cracker). There are several kind of it. Sweet one, soy souse taste one, deep fried one, grilled one, colorful one and so on. It depends on where you live.

And also, we eat Chirasi sushi. It is a kind of sushi, but should different from what you imagine from the word "sushi".

Hope you can enjoy Hinamatsuri even here in the U.S.!!

Have a good weekend!:)