Friday, March 03, 2006

Girls Day

Today is Girls Day or Hina Matsuri. Girl's Day is on March 3rd which is suppose to coincide with the blooming of peach blossoms. Peach blossoms symbolize a happy marriage and many "feminine traits". Parents and their daughters celebrate at home by displaying "ceremonial dolls" representing the emperor, empress and their many attendants. The dolls are passed on through generations and are beautifully decorated.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to my friend, Aki's house to see her daughter's girls day dolls. Seeing my friend's enthusiasm for the dolls and the bond between mother and daughter was so sweet and wonderful! I have memories of Girls Day from when I was a little girl. I remember the dolls clearly. I remember thinking how gorgeous and beautiful they were and how much I wanted to touch and play with them. The dolls are for display only. There is a great deal of excitement for a day that's yours alone! Seeing the dolls again brought back those old memories/feelings of wanting to touch and play with them and the mystery, awe, tradition, beauty and family bond embodied in these dolls.

For more information see the following website. http://www.ginkoya.com/pages/girlsday.html





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Somewhere up there in our vast attic you have some of those dolls.

Gwynne Sullivan said...

That's so great! I saw dolls that looked like that in pictures when I was there and didn't know the story behind them.
This totally debunks the stupid story parents told us when we were kids and said, "There's a mother's day and a father's day, why isn't there a kids day?" And they said, "Because EVERY day is Kid's Day!"
No - in Japan, there is a Girl's Day!
I think we should celebrate it.

Anonymous said...

Yeah! Pretty princess day! I like the diamond shaped sweets too. Girls are taking over. Take Children’s day in May. Used to be just Boy’s day.

Marty Wrin said...

Hey Taube!

Wow, I saw your picture and recognized your eyes right away - putting a name to the eyes took a few more minutes but it came pretty quickly considering how many years it's been!

Your blog is fantastic! It looks like things are going well for you and that's great to see!

It's interesting that Girl's Day is just a few days before International Woman's Day (March 8th). Probably no connection, more likely an interesting coincidence.

Hope all is well and I'll check back on your blog to see how life "a few years removed from Wilson" is treating you!