Hinamatsuri: Difference between revisions

Families normally ensure that girls have a set of the two main dolls before their first Hinamatsuri. The dolls are usually fairly expensive ($1,500 to $2,500 for a five-tier set, depending on quality) and may be handed down from older generations as [[heirloom]]s. The {{transliteration|ja|hinakazari}} spends most of the year in storage, and girls and their mothers begin setting up the display a few days before 3{{nbsp}}March (boys normally do not participate, as 5{{nbsp}}May, now [[Children's Day (Japan)|Children's Day]], was historically called "Boys' Day").<ref name="stripes">{{Cite web |url=https://okinawa.stripes.com/news/girl-power-hina-matsuri-way |title=Girl power the Hina Matsuri way |last=Nakahara |first=Tetsuo |date=24 February 2016 |website=Stripes Okinawa |publisher=[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]] |language=en |access-date=1 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125162741/https://okinawa.stripes.com/news/girl-power-hina-matsuri-way |archive-date=25 November 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Traditionally, the dolls were supposed to be put away by the day after {{transliteration|ja|Hinamatsuri}}, the [[superstition]] being that leaving the dolls any longer will result in a late marriage for the daughter,<ref name="Aruku">{{cite book|page=36|title=日本事情入門: View of Today's Japan|first=Mizue |last=Sasaki |publisher=Alc|year=1999 |isbn= 4-87234-434-0}}</ref> but some families may leave them up for the entire month of March.<ref name="stripes"/> Practically speaking, the encouragement to put everything away quickly is to avoid the rainy season and humidity that typically follows {{transliteration|ja|Hinamatsuri}}.<ref name="Voyapon" />

 

 

During {{transliteration|ja|Hinamatsuri}} and the preceding days, girls hold parties with their friends. Typical foods include {{nihongo3|multi-colored rice crackers|雛あられ|hina-[[arare (food)|arare]]}}, {{nihongo3|raw fish and vegetables on rice in a bowl or {{transliteration|ja|[[bento]]}} box|ちらし寿司|[[Sushi#Chirashizushi|chirashizushi]]}}, {{nihongo3|multi-colored rice cakes|菱餅|[[hishi mochi]]}},<ref name="nippon.com"/> {{nihongo3|strawberries wrapped in [[adzuki bean]] paste|いちご大福|ichigo daifuku}}, {{nihongo||桜餅|[[Sakuramochi]]}} and {{nihongo3|clam soup, as clam shells represent a joined pair|うしお汁|ushiojiru}}.<ref name="JT"/> The customary drink is {{nihongo3|lit. "white sake"|白酒|shirozake}}, also called {{nihongo|lit. "sweet sake"|甘酒|amazake}}, a non-alcoholic [[sake]].<ref name="Ruoo">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHkyUp-EH2MC&q=hishimochi+shirozake+chirashisushi&pg=PA134|page=134|title=Gift-giving in Japan: cash, connections, cosmologies |first=Katherine |last=Rupp |publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2003 |isbn= 0-8047-4704-0}}</ref><ref name="JT"/>