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Written by Eric Carroll
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As we here at the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia are busily preparing for this year’s sakura matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival), we feel it is important not to overlook another upcoming Japanese holiday, hina matsuri (Doll’s Festival) or “Girl’s Day”. In fact, this day can be called by a few names: hina masturi, hina-no-sekku, or momo-no-sekku (Peach Blossom Festival). This celebration has been observed on the third day of the third month for centuries in Japan, but the holiday’s primary ritual has only been documented since the Edo period (17th-19th centuries). Hina matsuri is still observed on March 3rd, even though the peach trees don’t bloom until about April.
The connection between the blooming of the peach blossoms and Japanese girls is symbolic. Peach blossoms are seen to possess the feminine traits of gentility, composure and tranquility, and on this day, the Japanese take time to celebrate the family’s young women, bestowing them with wishes for good fortune and marriage in the future. Long ago, families would make paper dolls which would be taken to a nearby river, and thrown in. It was believed that by making the doll, the maker could bestow their own ill-fortune upon it and have it carried away with the water.
These days, the primary custom of hina matsuri is to display the hina-ningyo, very special dolls which are sometimes passed down in families and are made to represent the emperor and empress (whose dolls are named dairi-sama), and their closest circle of subordinates, two ministers, three kanjo (court ladies), and five court musicians, all of the whom are clothed as they would have been in the Heian period (794-1185 C.E.). Hina-ningyo are typically displayed on tiered shelves covered in red cloth. It is also customary to decorate this altar with boughs of peach blossoms and make offerings of hishi-mochi (diamond shaped rice cakes) to the dolls.
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