The 3rd of March - (by the Solar Calendar) is called "Hina-no-Sekku","Hina-Matsuri" (Doll's Festival) or "Momo-no-Sekku" (Peach blossom's Festival) which used to be one of the important seasonal events of ancient China and has now developed into a function symbolic of Japanese arts and customs and has been in existence in Japan since the Edo Period (17 - 19 centuries).
Momo-no-Sekku used to be held on the 3rd of March according to the Lunar Calendar, though today it is actually not until early April that the peach blossoms begin to bloom, and that is how the name of this festival came about.
On this day families with young daughters celebrate this event at home to ensure their daughter's future happiness. That is, they decorate hina-Ningyo (special, beautiful dolls which are replicas of an ancient emperor and empress and their subordinates).
The dolls are not the everyday dolls usually played with but are ceremonial dolls, a heritage of the household, handed down, many of them, from generation to generation. They are displayed for a few days in the best room of the house at this festival time, after which they are carefully boxed and put away until the next year. Parents who are able to do so buy new sets of dolls for a girl baby born since the preceding festival, and relatives and friends make gifts of dolls.
Peach blossoms, symbolizing a happy marriage, are indispensable decorations of this festival day. The blossoms signify the feminine traits - of gentility, composure and tranquility.
A set of Hina-dolls usually consists of at least 15 dolls, all in the ancient costumes. The display also includes miniature household articles which often are exquisite artistic productions. The dolls most highly valued are the Dairi-sama, which represent the Emperor and Empress in resplendent court costumes of silk. They are attended by their two ministers, three kanjo (court ladies), and five court musicians. All are displayed on a tier of steps, usually five, from 3 to 6 ft. long and covered with bright red cloth. This stand is specially set up in the home only on this day.
The Imperial couple occupy the top step, the Emperor at the left of the Empress. Court ladies and banquet trays and dishes occupy the second tier; the other dolls are arranged on the lower tiers.
In the old days, on March 3 by the Lunar Calendar, all the people, men, women and children, made crude dolls of paper, and in making them they transferred their ill fortunes or sickness to the dolls. Gathering the dolls, they went together to a nearby brook or river, and cast them, bearing all their evils, into the water. It was thus an occasion for a family outing, just when the pleasant spring season started. Also the date which this festival is held marks the onset of spring.
Hina-matsuri used to be one of the very few occasions when little Japanese girls had their own parties. It was customary up to the prewar years for them to invite their small friends to these parties at which they partook of the sweets and food offered to the dolls. Sometimes they cooked and prepared the food and cakes to be offered to the dolls. They drank Shirozake, a sweet mild rice wine, on the occasion. The main offerings are small cakes - hishi mochi (diamond-shaped rice cakes) fruit-shaped candy, tiny white and red dainties of osekihan (glutinous rice boiled with red beans) and colored wheat gluten. The colorful air of both the dolls and the young girls add to the gaiety of this festival. Old country families still treasure their family hina-matsuri dolls and doll furniture which are preserved for centuries. Brides used to take their own dolls to their new homes.
Many interpretations are given about the festival. Families observe it to encourage filial piety, ancestor worship, loyalty, but above all is the love of children by Japanese parents, their joy and pride in them, and their desire to please them, and this love often impels poor parents to sell some of their belongings to buy dolls and decorations for the festival.
How to celebrate???
*Families with girls display hina-ningyo ひな人形 (special dolls used for this festival (see photo on the right) and dedicate peach blossoms to them. The peach blossom signifies vitality, eternal youth and peace. These dolls are arranged on five or seven-tiered stand that is covered in red carpet. They represent the emperor, empress, court ladies and attendants in the signature flamboyant robes of the Heian court. A traditional doll set can be very expensive. However these days, we can choose various grades and types of dolls for the set. Unless there is a set handed down from generation to generation, grandparents or parents buy them for the girl on her first Hinamatsuri (hatsu-zekku). There is a superstition that if you don’t put away the hina-ningyo soon after March 3, the daughter will get married late.
Hina-ningyo ひな人形 :
Hina-dolls is a scene of the wedding for emperor and empress.
The top: Obina and Mebina
The 2nd step: Sannin-kanjo (Three Court Ladies)
The 3rd step: Gonin-bayashi (Five Musicians)
The 4th step: Zuishin (Two Ministers)
~We can see the furniture prepared for the wedding and flowers in other steps.
The dolls wear beautiful ancient court costumes of Heian period (794-1185). The costume of the empress is called juuni-hitoe...
