Happy Girls Day !

On March 3rd, most Japanese families, especially those with daughters will display the Hinamatsuri dolls, in many traditional homes, passed down for generations from their mothers and grandmothers. The family will gather around their daughters at the center and celebrate with special Hinamatsuri feast … red and pink colors tend to adorn the homes with more spring toned pastels and florals…to honor their princesses.

As part of a typical feast, here’s a photo of Chirashi-sushi in a red lacquer bowl with a message, “Spring is coming soon.” … & a graphic garnish of cherry blossom images. Chirashi sushi is topped with decorative (and quite edible delicacies) shrimp marinated in sweet rice vinegar, salmon fish roe (orange/red caviar symbolizing fertility), lotus root (that white stencil cutout flowers representing purity and faith), anago, golden egg threads, and sea vegetables/nori strings…). Feast to the eye, Pretty!

“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 (雛流し, lit. “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 (part of the Kamo Shrine complex in Kyoto) 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.”

– Source:  wikipedia excerpt

It’s an auspicious day of celebration.  A Ritual that says to our girls and to every woman who retains that source –  that eternal ” girl” within – you are valued; you are loved. Boys are off springs of the divine mothers and consequently, reasons for them to celebrate The Girls Day in the girls honor as well.  Whether a boy or girl, we all entered this world from a mothers’ womb – and so we cherish and honor our girls – whether in a form of one’s daughter, sister, aunt, mother, grandmother, wife or a girlfriend.  Love, love, love…A ritual for all who care for, all those who care about and love our girls –  Beautiful ritual indeed.