Home About Press Crafts Recipes

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Celebrating Hinamatsuri (Girl's Day)


Every year our family celebrates the Japanese holiday Hinamatsuri which falls on March 3rd.  Hinamatsuri translates to doll festival but also refers to Girl's Day.  The holiday is a time girls are celebrated and prayed over by their families.  Part of the tradition includes displaying a special doll set for the holiday.  Our family tradition for this occasion includes giving our daughter a special gift that's Japanese related.  This year I decided to get her one of the mini Hinamatsuri doll sets by Re-Ment (pictured above).

 The dolls represent the emperor and empress.  As you might have guessed, pictured above is the emperor. 

Here's a photo of the empress beside a penny so you can get an idea of just how tiny these dolls are.  I'm always amazed with the detail of these toys considering their scale.

I found this kokeshi doll gift bag at Target which I'm going to use to wrap the gift.  Kokeshi are also Japanese dolls and can be displayed for Girl's Day as well.

Lately it seems like I've been seeing kokeshi dolls everywhere.  Has anyone else noticed this trend?  I'm even seeing more articles about Girl's Day.  In fact, I noticed a blurb about it in the March issue of Family Fun Magazine.

6 comments:

gale said...

We used to do this when I was a kid. My sisters and I (no brothers in our family!) would look forward to helping our mom set up the display. We had one that was pretty nice-I remember it being set up by an unused door and it was wider than the door and at least 2/3 the height of it. I wonder if my parents still have that display-they quit putting it up when I was in my teens.

We never got presents though... (but I do agree that Japanese themes are very popular these days in the US).

Drea said...

When I was a little girl, my parents would take me to this Japanese restaurant that had a full size samurai armor display and this beautiful doll display. I'm expecting a baby niece in April, so maybe next year I'll get her a Girl's Day doll set. Or even better, maybe I'll make her a plush set! :D Thanks for the inspiration!!

zakkalife said...

Gale,

Thanks for sharing about you Girl's Day memories. Now you have me curious what your childhood doll set looks like. I'm sure it was gorgeous.

zakkalife said...

Drea,

A plus version sounds awesome! If you ever make it, you have to share photos.

~amy~ said...

ooohhh...thanks for the reminder!!!!!!

Anne in NC said...

We are not even Asian, but my daughters and I have celebrated Girls' Day for years. We always wear kimonos and have a fancy tea party, and usually make origami kimonos that we use as bookmarks. We display kokeshi dolls (Momiji Dolls) in a tiered arrangement on our mantle. Every year I buy 2 -- we have a dozen now. Have you seen the adorable kokeshi books by Annelore Parot? We love Girls' Day in our house!

Zakka Life has moved to a new site!

Click here to visit the new site.