Japanese Girls’ Day – also known as the Doll’s Festival – is celebrated on March 3 to pray for the health and happiness of young girls in Japan. Hinamatsuri, the name of the celebration in Japan, is marked by families displaying a set of hina dolls in the house and serving special food delicacies that are ceremonially beautiful and delicious.
Hina Dolls – Traditionally, parents or grandparents of a newborn girl buy a set of hina dolls for the baby, unless they have special dolls that are inherited from generation to generation.
Traditional Food – As with almost all holidays, food and drink play a role on Girls’ Day, with rice wine and rice cakes taking center stage, along with flower blossoms. Hinamatsuri is also called Momo no Sekku, which means a festival of peach blossoms. Peach blossoms, shiro-zake (white fermented rice wine) and hishi-mochi (diamond-shaped rice cakes) are placed on the stand with the hina dolls. Hishi-mochi are colored pink representing peach flowers, white representing snow, and green representing new growth.
