Hina Matsuri

Last Thursday, March 3th, was Hina Matsuri in Japan. It is better known as the Girls' Day Festival. During the month or few weeks leading up to the festival, collections of dolls known as hina dolls are put on display in homes where women live. Each granddaughter, daughter and mother has their own set of hina dolls be it big or small.

Here is a blurb from Wikipedia about the day:
The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi ("doll floating"), in which straw hina dolls are set afloat on a boat and sent down a river to the sea, supposedly taking troubles or bad spirits with them. The Shimogamo Shrine celebrates the Nagashibina by floating these dolls between the Takano and Kamo Rivers to pray for the safety of children. People have stopped doing this now because of fishermen catching the dolls in their nets. They now send them out to sea, and when the spectators are gone they take the boats out of the water and bring them back to the temple and burn them.
The customary drink for the festival is shirozake, a sake made from fermented rice. A colored hina-arare, bite-sized crackers flavored with sugar or soy sauce depending on the region, and hishimochi, a diamond-shaped colored rice cake, are served. Chirashizushi (sushi rice flavored with sugar, vinegar, topped with raw fish and a variety of ingredients) is often eaten. A salt-based soup called ushiojiru containing clams still in the shell is also served. Clam shells in food are deemed the symbol of a united and peaceful couple, because a pair of clam shells fits perfectly, and no pair but the original pair can do so.
Families generally start to display the dolls in February and take them down immediately after the festival. Superstition says that leaving the dolls past March 4 will result in a late marriage for the daughter.

Last week, I attended a Girls' Day lunch at one of my student's family's house. We ate the traditional foods and they showed us their large display of hina dolls. It was a fun afternoon!

My student is Nanako, the 4 year old, and my friend Brittany teaches her Grandma and friend. Nanako's mother's hina dolls are displayed behind us.

 Here are pictures of some of the yummy food they made for us! Sashimi! Vegetables! Rice!

 Nabe! Champagne!

 Coffee and dessert! The strawberries are in season in Japan right now and they are amazing!

 Thanks for wonderful day!