Hina Matsuri “doll festival” (ひな祭り)

The Hina Matsuri or Doll Festival or Girl’s Festival is celebrated on March 3. On this day, families with girls wish their daughters a successful and happy life. Dolls are displayed in the house together with peach blossoms. The doll festival has its origin in a Chinese custom in which bad fortune is transferred to dolls and then removed by abandoning the doll on a river. On Hina Matsuri, sweet sake is drunken and chirashi sushi is eaten.

The ”hina dolls” (雛人形, hina ningyo) are only displayed when a family has a daughter. Usually a set is handed down from generation to generation or the grandparents or parents will buy one for a girl’s first Hina Matsuri (初節句, hatsuzekku)! A complete set with traditional dolls can be extremely expensive! There is a superstition that the daughter of the house will have a hard time finding a marriage partner if the dolls aren’t put away in the evening of March 3rd!

Beautiful costumes of the Heian period are worn by the hina dolls, representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians. They are displayed on a stand (ひな壇, hinadan) that is often covered with a red carpet. The platform can have several levels (up to 7). The most common ones are one-, five- and seven-tiered stands.

Special dishes for Hina Matsuri

As for most festivals in Japan there are also some special dishes for Hina Matsuri.

The traditional colors for this festival are white,　green and pink (or red). White is for purification, green stands for health and pink (red) will chase away evil spirits.

“Hishimochi” (菱餅) are diamond-shaped rice cakes with exactly those three colors! “Sakuramochi” (桜餅, bean paste-filled rice cakes with cherry leaves) is also eaten (see photo).

昔は五つの節句があり、平安時代、貴族の間では、それぞれの季節の節目の身の汚れを祓う大切な行事でした。上巳の節句に人形（ひとがた）または形代（かたしろ）とよぶ草木、あるいは紙やわらでつくった人形に、自分の災厄をうつして海や川に流す「流し雛」と、平安時代にはじまるお人形遊び「ひいな遊び」とが、長い間に結びついたのが、現在の「ひなまつり」です。

　海老などの縁起のいい海鮮類がたくさん。さくらでんぶと錦糸玉子で、女の子らしい彩りに。