Hina Matsuri Celebrations Date of celebration: March 3, 2010  Save as Bookmark  Send this Page to Friend. Hina Matsuri Home   Hina Matsuri Wallpapers   Amazake   Hina Matsuri Celebrations   Hina Matsuri Song   History & Origin of Hina Matsuri   Traditional Hina Matsuri Dishes   Hina Matsuri is the time where people bask into euphoria that is created with this festival. Dolls form an integral part of the festival. It is to be noted that though the basic pyramidal style of the two main dolls of earlier period persists, changes were introduced in Hina Matsuri celebration style to keep at par with the demands of the changing times. Dolls of older period were used as antiques. Slowly and steadily the doll-makers of Kyoto and Edo, and their affluent customers, evolved with the full display of at least fifteen dolls and also a plethora of tiny furniture. In the beginning of 20th century it was widely accepted that every little girl should exhibit hina-matsuri, and also numerous small and cheap formats were introduced. As per the current trend small dolls are in vogue. Following the trend of by-gone era now the emphasis is on the two principal dolls.     Hina Matsuri celebration is unique in its own way. A girl's first "Girls' Day" is known as her hatzu-zekku. People celebrate this festival inside the home and also near the seashore. Both parts are meant to remove the influence of evil spirits from girls. Many families display dolls around middle of February and put it away immediately after Hina Matsuri. The reason is that they believe that those who are slow in putting away the dolls will face problem in marrying off their daughters.     A few days before the start of the festival, girls and their mothers bring out the dolls or ‘hina’ and arrange them on a red cloth which covers a structure known as the hina-dan, with as many as seven steps. Interestingly each step is designated for individual set of hina, for e.g., the Emperor and Empress are at the top with a small gilded screen placed behind them, resembling that of any of imperial court. The costume of the Empress is called the "juuni-hitoe (twelve-layered ceremonial robe)." Even today the juuni-hitoe is worn at the wedding ceremony of the royal family.     Three ladies who serve the royal dainties are staked on the next step, then five or even ten musicians, 2 "guardians" with weapons, and 3 servants are placed. Other items like toy trees, made up of semi-precious stones, and also numerous toy apparatus representing a dowry (small chests, carts, and so on) are displayed. Girls play hostess to their friends, and also to the ‘ningyo’, who are "fed" in tiny dish sets. In this festival, dolls are put into boats and sent away to the sea with the desire that they are going to eradicate all the contamination and evil spirits out of the girls. Formerly, people rubbed drawings of people on themselves and floated them in a river. The general belief is that the impurities were transferred to the drawing thereby making people free from all kind of ill influences. This led to the trend of preparing paper dolls and sending them down the river. Presently the ritual involves usage of numerous dolls of large size. In this connection, a special mentioning may be made of a wonderful film of Akira Kurosawa namely Dreams: Yume in the year 1990. It depicts wonderful portrayal of Hina display.