Sorry for my absence everybody! My baby boy came out on 14th February. It was the most painful experience, but at the same time most wonderful one as well. If I have got a daughter, I would be very busy right now, because the 3rd March is the girl’s day in Japan. The day is called “Hina Matsuri”. It is the day to wish the girl’s good health. Just like you see in the picture, we display the beautiful Japanese traditional dolls in a house. The main characters are 2 top ones. The empire and queen, sometimes there are only 2 of them on the small red stage, but in a traditional way, there are more than 16 dolls. The other dolls can be body guards, musicians, maids for the queen and solders. Often the flower of peach is on it too.
The history of the festival is unclear. It is said that in the empire’s family, girls often play with dolls. Once one of the girl’s dolls got broken pretty badly and the girl survived close accident on the same day. So that people believed the doll got hurt instead of the girl. It is one of the stories, but there are so many other stories to tell us why the girl’s festival (Hina Matsuri) started. So it is you to decide which story you believe.
On that day, mothers make special dishes to celebrate the big day for their girls. The dish is called “Chirashi Zushi”. It is one kind of Sushi. It is not Sushi we see abroad though. The word “Chirashi” means messy or unorganized. It sounds a bit bad, but it means the sushi is not like rolling sushi or Nigiri zushi that we see often in magazine or pictures of Japanese dishes. The sushi is made in a dish or bowl. As you can see in the picture if you look for, it is decorated like a pretty cake with egg, fish and other ingredients. The color pink, clear yellow and green make us imagine the spring. It is the day to wish girls’ good health, but also the day to celebrate the coming spring.
There is also a traditional snack for the day. It is called “Hina Arare”. It is a traditional rice snack. Just like other traditional rice snacks, it is salty, but it is covered with sweet sugar courting. The color of the snack is often pink, green and yellow like the Chirashi Zushi. The snack is usually pretty small so that small girl can eat and enjoy easily.
Adults do drink special alcohol on that day, but the taste of it is also a bit sweet taste since it is the girl’s day. If you are not girl and don’t have a daughter, it is the day you will never celebrate, if you get a chance to see the festival, don’t miss it!
Thank you to read my article
Ayami
