Girls Festival

On Feb. 21, we went to our Japanese teacher Mami's house to see her dolls set up for the the Hinamatsuri (Girls' Festival) which occurs on March 3rd. Most homes in Japan that have a daughter have a display of dolls for the month of February in order to pray for young girls' growth and happiness. After March 3rd, the doll display must be taken down or else they believe it will bring bad luck and the daughter may not get married. The picture on the left is of Mami's house. The one on the right is Mami and her husband in front of their doll display.

On March 3rd, the girls wear kimonos and eat hina-arale, which are rice crackers for the Girls Festival (picture below). We were able to try some and they tasted pretty good...a lot like Kix cereal. They also drink non-alcoholic sake (rice wine).

The size of the doll shrine depends on the family. Mami, our Japanese teacher, has 2 daughters and a really beautiful doll display with 7 steps. She explained to us the importance of each step. On the top step, there is an empress and an emperor. On the second step there are three women servants holding Japanese rice cakes. On the third step there are five musicians holding traditional Japanese instruments and on the 4th step there are two ministers. The 5th step are the men servants. On the last 2 steps there are pieces of furniture and household items, including mirrors, a dresser, tea cups and dishes.

Mami and her husband taught us a song that is sung for the Girls Festival. It was really fun learning it! This is a video of us singing the song in Japanese.

The song is called "Ureshii Hinamatsuri" which translates to "Happy Girls Festival Day." The song's English translation is something like this:
"Turn on the light. Let's decorate the flowers, peach flowers. Five musicians with whistles and drums. Today is a joyful girls festival day."