Friday, March 3, 2017

Hina Matsuri

Hina Festival, also known as Girl's Day or Doll Festival is celebrated on March 3rd.  This display is in the home of my friend: 





This is the display in my home, thanks to my friend Michiko in Hokkaido!




Here is some information about the holiday and the display that I previously posted:

To celebrate girls growth and good health, dolls dressed in Heian period costumes are displayed on a tiered stand. These dolls represent the Emperor and Empress, their noble court ladies in waiting and ministers. 


The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period

 There is a certain order of the tiers of dolls. According to Wikipedia, the top tier hold the Emperor and Emperess dolls, usually in front of a gold folding screen and placed beside green Japanese trees. The traditional arrangement had the male on the right, while modern arrangements had him on the left (from the viewer's perspective).

The second tier holds three court ladies, each holding sake equipment. 

The third tier holds five male musicians, each holding a musical instrument except the singer, who holds a fan.

Two ministers may be displayed on the fourth tier: the Minister of the Right and the Minister of the Left. The Minister of the Right is depicted as a young person, while the Minister of the Left is much older. Also, because the dolls are placed in positions relative to each other, the Minister of the Right will be on the viewer's left and the Minister of the Left will be on the viewer's right. Both are sometimes equipped with bows and arrows.

The fifth tier holds three helpers or samurai as the protectors of the Emperor and Empress. Additional platforms can hold miniature furniture, tools, etc. 
              
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.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Pamela,wow thankyou you post is very interesting,than,you for sharing.

Rachel said...

How beautiful. I love the hello kitty card you have as a display. Definitely a great space safer for your apartment which still lets you celebrate the holiday.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

The Japanese have such interesting traditions and you embrace them so well.
xx, Carol

D1-D2 said...

I always thought this was very interesting. There were so many pretty displays on instagram the past week

Janie said...

Girls are sweet. I think that's a great idea to honor girls for being girls!

kiwikid said...

Thank you for sharing, love your display .

Leonore Winterer said...

Your friend's display is awesome, but yours is cute too! It' so very Japanese to take something traditional like this holiday...and turn it into Hello Kitty, haha!