Hina matsuri is the Japanese holiday known as Girl's Day (or Doll's Day) and is celebrated on March 3. Girls display their doll collection traditionally given to them by their grandparents and they host girlfriends over for tea and to view the dolls. I have read about this holiday in many books, and I personally have always thought it sounded like a "national tea party day." I also had secretly hoped to be invited over for a "tea party" and, yesterday, was pleasantly surprised to be invited to my neighbor's house for an entire meal of chirashi zushi (a form of sushi), miso soup, strawberries, and chocolate cake. Their almost two year old daughter, Nana, enjoyed helping her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother play hostest. During dinner, she also enjoyed adding various other toys to her doll collection (if you look closely at the picture above, you can see a teddy bear just to the right of my head). Unfortunately, I did not get a close up picture of the dolls, but they are handmade cloth dolls with intricate clothing and distinct faces. The two on the top are the emperor and empress while the below figurines are court attendants. A complete set ranges from approximately $500-$1000.
1 comment:
What fun! And I remember how you always loved tea parties. In Japan they're an actual celebrated event. Your neighbor girl is a doll (just like her dolls!). Love, Auntie Hildi
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