Hina Matsuri
Here I display some of my Monchhichis like japanese girls do it at their Hina Matsuri day. Hina Matsuri is the japanese festival for young girls, which is celebrated at March 3rd in modern times. It is an event where people hope for growth and happiness for girls and it is called "Momo-no-Sekku", which
means "festival of peach". "Hina" is an ancient word and means "doll" and "Matsuri" means "festival". "Momo" means "peach" and "Sekku" is another word for "festival". The festival is also often called the Peach Festival.
At this day gracefull dolls dressed in ancient costumes are displayed in a layout with different steps. This decoration stands for about one month. The dolls represent the emperor and empress, their attendants and other members of the court. There is also a small celebration with special rice cakes and drinks. A set of Hina-dolls usually consists of at least 15 dolls, all in the ancient costumes. At many homes where the dolls are displayed you can find also the decoration of "Peach blossoms", "Shirozake" (
a special white liquor), "Hina arare" and "Hishi mochi".
Emperor and Empress
Members of the Court
Attendants
A new born girl seeing her first Hinamatsuri is likely to receive a gift of Hinaningyo, a set of special dolls, from her grandparents for this day. These dolls are displayed every year by the family wishing her to grow up in health and in safety.
The Hinamatsuri has three origins which can be traced back to the Heian Period (794 - 1192 A.D.). One is a tradition in which young girls played with paper dolls called Hiina Asobi. Another is a Chinese based tradition for giving offerings to the Gods at the change of each season. The most significant one, though, is an ancient Japanese practice to rub a Katashiro or Hitogata, a paper human resemblance, on a person's body and set it adrift on rivers or the sea. It was believed that washing away these human resemblances would wash away impurity and evil spirits. On the other hand, these human resemblances were considered as Gods also.
These three traditions were blended together and the dolls became artistic and sophisticated during the Muromachi Period (1338 - 1573 A.D.). The celebration itself was established and popularized as a girls' festival during the mid Edo Period (1603 - 1867 A.D.) when it became something similar to what we know today.
I got the words for this description through different origins from the internet. Here I show you this other very informative websites :