Today, March 3rd, is Girls' Day here in Japan. This is a day when parents have a little celebration to wish their daughters success in life (traditionally, marriage).
Families with daughters have a Hina-Ningyo (doll) display, similar to the one in the photo above. In the photo, there are only two tiers - one for the Emperor and Empress, and one for the small furniture and meal dishes. Many families have a display much like this one; other families, those with more storage space, and those who have passed the Hina-Ningyo down through generations, have a five or even a seven tiered version.
A full display looks a lot like a pyramid. At the top are always the Emperor and Empress dolls; one level down, there are three court ladies; the level below contains five flute and drum players; then there are two ministers, and finally three servants. The final tier contains the miniature furniture and food.
It is customary to take down and put away the doll display soon after March 3rd, as the later it stays up, the later the daughter will get married.
Sorry there was no bike-talk today; the weather has been...inclement. But, to make up for it, I am going to convince Brian to contribute a weekly "Maintenance" post!
1 comment:
Sounds kind of like a Christmas tree made of dolls. Anything that gets kids and their parents doing something together is good I suppose, maybe a little weird from a Canadian standpoint, but better than nothing.
Denis.
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