Happy Hina Matsuri!

March 3 in Japan is a holiday called, “Hina Matsuri.” It is a day to celebrate your daughter, and is considered “Girl’s Day.” It is also the doll festival, where Japanese homes that have daughters decorate by displaying dolls in their homes on tiered platforms. I’ve seen these in the stores quite often, and they are extremely expensive. Depending on the tier level, different types of dolls are placed. The very top level sits the Imperial dolls, which represent the emperor and empress of Japan. There are other tiers and objects for each level, which you can read about here.

In any case, this is a day where families pray for the happiness and prosperity of their daughters. Typically, a daughter is given a tiered doll set on her very first Hina Matsuri, (which is called hatzu-gekku) by her grandparents. The family displays this as decoration sometime mid-February, and then puts it immediately away after March 3rd. It is superstition that if a family is slow to put the doll set away, they will have a hard time marrying off their daughter.

Personally, I am a little sad I was unable to go to Kada Shrine to see the festivities…but it’s a little far away for me to be traveling on a Tuesday (particularly when we still had class). What’s interesting to note is that Girl’s Day is not a national holiday, and people still go to work…but Boy’s Day in May is part of Japan’s Golden Week, when no one goes to school or to work.

In any case, I got a surprise for my own Girl’s Day this year. ^_^ I received ANOTHER package! (*Everyone cheers*) And what is even more coincidental is that it was from my grandparents.

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They sent me a lot of different snacks, all of which I really like. The Pop-Tarts and the oatmeal were especially great surprises, because I have not seen anything close to either in over a month. I gave one of the Pop-Tarts to my speaking partner, Hiroto, and it took me a while to explain to him what it even was. In the end I just told him it was good tasting toast, and to have it for breakfast. He seemed pretty excited.

[singlepic=132,320,240,,left]Aside from the snacks, Grandma also made sure to put an extra special something in there for me. JESUS! I got a cross! ^_^ It is now sitting on my desk by my rosary and my magnet from Jordan (given to me by Chieko-san). I also got to go around all day telling people, “I’ve got Jesus in a box!” It led to the plans to make a cartoon where Jesus comes out of the box to help children with their problems. I think it would be amazing.

In any case, I’m off to class and my Japanese test. Wish me luck!