Hinamatsuri (雛祭り Hina-matsuri?), also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a special day in Japan. Hinamatsuri is celebrated each year on March 3. Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of ornamental dolls (雛人形 hina-ningyō?) representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.
雛祭り（ひなまつり）は、日本において、女子のすこやかな成長を祈る節句の年中行事。ひいなあそびともいう。 ひな人形（「男雛」と「女雛」を中心とする人形）を飾り、桃の花を飾って、白酒や寿司などの飲食を楽しむ節句祭り。雛あられや菱餅を供える。 The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi (雛流し?, lit. "doll floating"), in which straw hina dolls are set afloat on a boat and sent down a river to the sea, supposedly taking troubles or bad spirits with them. The Shimogamo Shrine (part of the Kamo Shrine complex in Kyoto) celebrates the Nagashibina by floating these dolls between the Takano and Kamo Rivers to pray for the safety of children. People have stopped doing this now because of fishermen catching the dolls in their nets. They now send them out to sea, and when the spectators are gone they take the boats out of the water and bring them back to the temple and burn them.
和暦（太陰太陽暦）の3月の節句（上巳、桃の節句）である3月3日（現在の4月頃）に行われていたが、明治6年（1873年）1月1日の改暦以後は一般的にグレゴリオ暦（新暦）の3月3日に行なう。しかし一部では引き続き旧暦3月3日に祝うか、新暦4月3日に祝う（東北・北陸など積雪・寒冷地に多い）。旧暦では桃の花が咲く季節になるため「桃の節句」となった。 香川県三豊市の旧仁尾町では戦国時代に仁尾城が落城したのが旧暦3月3日であるという特殊事情のため、雛祭りは行われない。かわりに八朔に雛人形を飾る。
The customary drink for the festival is shirozake, a sake made from fermented rice. A colored hina-arare, bite-sized crackers flavored with sugar or soy sauce depending on the region, and hishimochi, a diamond-shaped colored rice cake, are served. Chirashizushi (sushi rice flavored with sugar, vinegar, topped with raw fish and a variety of ingredients) is often eaten. A salt-based soup called ushiojiru containing clams still in the shell is also served. Clam shells in food are deemed the symbol of a united and peaceful couple, because a pair of clam shells fits perfectly, and no pair but the original pair can do so. Families generally start to display the dolls in February and take them down immediately after the festival. Superstition says that leaving the dolls past March 4 will result in a late marriage for the daughter.
