Traditional Japanese Festivals for Kids
In Japan, spring is the season to celebrate children! Fumi tells us about Hina-matsuri and Tango-no-sekku, traditional festivals especially for kids in Japan.
By Fumi Yasui
Hina-matsuri, a festival for girls
Hina-matsuri, meaning “the doll festival” in Japanese, is held on the third of March to pray for girls' health and happiness. We display dolls dressed in the decorative robes of the ancient imperial court.
You may see these dolls on display at Samitivej Hospital or other places around Bangkok. Odairi-sama is the emperor and Ohina-sama is the empress, both symbols of Hina-matsuri.
Depending on the size of their house, families can display the pair with other members of the imperial court, such as sannin kanjo (three court ladies) and gonin bayashi (five musicians).
These figures represent members of the imperial court and are displayed on a red-carpeted and stepped platform. They’re so beautiful that it would be lovely to display them all year round, but once the festival finishes on March 3rd, we have to put these dolls away quickly, as it is believed that leaving them out too long will harm your daughter’s chances of marriage.
Traditionally, families eat chirashi-sushi to celebrate the day. It looks like a rice salad: different kinds of seafood and other colorful ingredients are placed on top of vinegared rice.
Tango-no-sekku, a festival for boys
Tango-no-sekku, meaning “the special moment in May” in Japanese, is held on the fifth of May to pray for the healthy growth of boys. The day is also called “children’s day,” Kodomo-no-hi, and is a national holiday celebrating both boys and girls.
Decorations for Tango-no-sekku festival are placed both indoors and out. For indoors, decorative samurai helmets (kabuto) and swords (katana) are displayed. They symbolize strength and courage, and are also believed to protect children from misfortune and disease.
For outdoors, we have multi-colored windsocks called koi-nobori, designed like swimming carp. This also symbolizes vigor and success in life. To celebrate, we eat kashiwa-mochi, rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves. Oak is believed to be a fortunate plant.
I hope you enjoyed learning about some of our traditional festivals. Each one of your countries has your own traditional festivals and I would love to find out more about them someday!
References
About the Author
Fumi has lived in Bangkok since the end of 2016 from Tokyo for her husband's job transfer. She has two kids (a 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son). She worked in global marketing and was a product manager of consumer products at a Japanese manufacturing company. She joined the BAMBI News team in April 2019.
The views expressed in the articles in this magazine are not necessarily those of BAMBI committee members and we assume no responsibility for them or their effects. BAMBI News welcomes volunteer contributors to our magazine. Please contact editor@bambiweb.org.