HinamatsuriorGirls' Day, (雛祭, ひなまつり;) is the Doll FestivalinJapan. On the 3rd of March, people display dolls (雛人形; hinaningyō) dressed in old-style kimonos. Tiered platforms with red cloth (hi-mousen, 緋毛氈) are used to display a set of dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress.
On the top tier, there are two dolls representing the Emperor and Empress who wear court dress of the Heian period. The emperor doll is called O-Dairi-sama (お内裏さま) and the empress doll is called O-Hina-sama (お雛さま). (Dairi means "Imperial Palace", and Hina means "girl" or "princess"). Two miniature houses are often provided for Dairi-sama and O-Hina-sama to be placed inside.
On the second tier, there are usually three dolls, San-nin kanjo (三人官女). They are court ladies serving the Emperor and Empress. For instance, one lady holds a sake-filler in her hands.
On the third tier, there are five men who each have a musical instrument. These are the musicians who serve the Emperor and Empress. They are called the Go-nin Bayashi (五人囃し).
On the third, forth and lower tiers, a vaiety of miniature furniture, tools, carriges etc. are displayed. Sometimes, the dolls of two ministers, that is, minister at right/left are displayed on fourth platform. (See pictures on the Japanese article page.)
The custom of displaying dolls began during the Edo period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits in their bodies, and would thus save the owner from dangerous encounters.
The origin of HinamatsuriisHinanagashi (雛流し; literally, "doll floating";) in which paper dolls are put into a boat and sent on a journey down a river into the sea, taking with them the bad spirits.
It is a celebration especially for girls, and is sometimes called the "Girl's Festival".
The customary drink for the festival is amazake, a sweet, non-alcoholic version of sake made from fermented rice. The customary food is colored arare, bite-sized crackers flavored with soy sauce.
Every family with a female child has a dolls set. There are many legends about this Matsuri (festival), one of them is this: if the family forgets to retry the whole set before the night of 4th March, the girl won't marry before the next year.
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