“Hina-matsuri ひな祭り- Dolls festival or Girls festival ( March 3 )”
Hi, How are you? It continues to be very cold in NY.
Family with Matcha Madeleine and Matcha Bouchons
Today’s blog is about “Hinamatsuri” in Japan. Hinamatsuri is “ Dolls festival “ or “ Girls festival.” It is also called “ Momono - Sekku” which means peach festival. The event is on March 3. Hinamatsuri is a day to pray for the health and growth of a young girl in the family. Q: How do they celebrate Hinamatsuri’s day? A: Family with girls display a set of “Hina Ningyou,”
which means Hina dolls from Feb 24 to about March 1. Q : Why do they display Hina Ningyou ? What is its meaning? A: Japanese people believed that Hina Ningyou take
away bad luck from girls. Q: How do they decorate Hina Ningyou? A: Hina Ningyou depict the imperial court. The image is
Heian period’s Emperor court in Kyoto. Each Hina
Ningyou represent Emperor, Empress, their servants
(three court ladies) and five musicians. Q: What happens after Hina matusri is over? A: People put away Hina Ningyou as soon as Hina
matusri is over because it is said that if the cleaning is
delayed, the girl will get marry very late in the future. Q: Hinamaturi is a girl’s festival, isn’t it? What kind of
food do they eat for this day? A: People eat these foods: <Chirashi-Zushi > Chirashi-Zushi is a kind of decorated sushi with many
scattered topping such as a Salmon roe and Sashimi on
vinegar rice. <Hishi-mochi> Hishi-mochi (sticky rice) is a diamond shaped rice cake
and their colors are Pink, White and Green. <Hina-Arare> Hina-Arare are sweet bite-sized rice crackers/
The colors are Pink, White and Green. Q: Why Pink, White and Green? A: It is said that pink means peach, white means snow
and green means Land. It represents the view of
nature.
Our family supporters with Matcha Baum Kuchen (Center is Peach girl) Thank you very much for reading and taking your precious time with us. See you again on our next blog.