Saturday, May 5, 2012

Children's Day (Kodomo no hi) or Boys Day (Tango no Sekku)

Children’s Day is celebrated as on May 5th and is the last holiday of Golden Week in Japan.  It was first designated as a national holiday in 1948 and was chosen as a day to celebrate the happiness of children.  Until recently, it was celebrated as Boys Day, with Girls Day celebrated on March 3rd, but now it is known as Children's Day.  Families raise the carp-shaped fish flags and display a Kintaro doll with the Japanese military helmet, kibuto. Kintaro and kibuto are symbols of a strong healthy boy.

These items have been on display for purchase at the mall, similar to the Hina displays for girls earlier this year. Like the Girls Day displays, these items are not inexpensive.





I don’t think this is connected with Boy’s Day, they just happened to be on display near the Boys Day items. It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but these are big hard shelled beetle type bugs in plastic boxes. I know cats and dogs are expensive, but I still can’t imagine having one of these as a pet.


1 comment:

Rhiannon said...

Is that 2980 yen for a beetle? It must be a very unique insect to be almost $40 USD, lol. Glad the snow is finally melting for you all! We've hit (and passed) 90F this week...it's crazy!