For this week’s blog post, I want to share a little about my Japanese American culture. Some of you may know about Girls’ day – Hinamatsuri, and for others this may be a completely new concept and holiday to learn about.

As a Japanese American, I grew up with many of the Japanese traditions, but they have been adapted in Hawai’i. One of the celebrations I grew up with is Japanese Girls’ Day, Hinamatsuri. Always celebrated on March 3, 3/3, it is one of five seasonal festivals in Japan. The other festivals are on 1/1 – New Year’s Day, 5/5 – Boys’ day and Children’s day, Kodomo no Hiこどもの日 – a holiday in Japan, 7/7 – bamboo festival, and 9/9 – Kiku Chrysanthemum festival. In Hawai’i, I only remember celebrating 1/1 since it is New Years day, 3/3 Girls’ Day, and 5/5 for Boys’ Day.

As a note, Hawai’i’s traditions are probably different from how Japanese people in Japan or other diaspora communities celebrate. Time, isolation, and proximity to other communities cause traditions to adapt and morph. In my view this is neither right or wrong, just the reality of migration and adaptation.

Girls’ day, represented by the peach flower, is celebrated with dolls. When a girl is born, she is given a set of dolls, hina ningyo or hinakazari (雛飾り), depicting the royal court of the Heian period wedding, to display on Girls’ day. These dolls are not to play with – display dolls, akin to a Christmas Nativity set that is put out once a year for a holiday. Sometimes these dolls are passed down through a family, or she’s gifted a new one. The dolls are set on a red cloth and arranged with the empress on the top and downward according to hierarchy. The dolls symbolize good health, prosperity, and traditionally a good marriage. It is also believed that displaying the dolls will ward off evil spirits.

My family didn’t put out a doll set. I vaguely remember making paper dolls at school or maybe in art class to honor the holiday.

Food

As a part of the Japanese diaspora and growing up in Hawai’i, I didn’t celebrate the holiday with a doll display. Instead, my mom would make a big pan of chi chi dango mochi to take to school and share.

Chichi dango is made of mochiko (rice flour), with conspicuous amounts of sugar, coconut milk and a few other ingredients. For a traditional Girls’ Day dessert, the batter is divided into three, and colored green, white, and pink to represent spring colors. My kids love chi chi dango and know to request it around Girls’ day. Their school friends also know to look for them around this time for a piece of the sweet dessert.

Other traditional foods include Chirashi-zushi (ちらし寿司) – served in a lacquered bowl it is more like a sushi rice bowl than rolled sushi, very festive. Ushiojiru (潮汁) is a clear clam-based soup with salt and sake – very spring flavors. And inarizushi (いなり寿司) is a favorite in our house, they look like pillow pockets of rice.

I hope you celebrate the girls in your life every day.

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