Today is Hinamatsuri.
I was surprised to see Google's homepage.
An illustration of Japanese Hinamatsuri dolls was on it.
Is the Google's homepage universal? If so Hinamatsuri may have captured acknowledgement in the world.
It reminds me of the fact that there were a lot of opportunities to introduce Japanese culture and on March 3rd there was a display of Hinamatsuri in my children's school in Holland.
For Hinamatsuri Japanese family take out Hinamatasuri dolls from the shed in advance.
It depends but a few weeks earlier I think.
In our house the following dolls are displayed.
Always I get confused which doll is right and left.So I am not sure this is the right position. I heard that it depends on times and locals.
I heard the dolls represent Japanese Emperor and Empress marriage in older days.
Parents pray their daughter's happy marriage by displaying Hinamatsuri dolls.
My dolls set is very simple one compared to those which are more gorgeous and with more dolls and miniature furniture displayed on the stairs shaped shelf with 5 or 7 steps.
When I was little I did not have Hinamatsuri dolls in my house. Because I was a third child and the first and only girl in my family my parents did not have a chance to find one. I always asked my parents to get me nice dolls set but the problem was we didn't have enough space to keep a big one in our house. At last my mother learned how to make Kimekomi dolls and made these two Hinamatsuri dolls for me.
Kimekomi dolls: they are made by pasting fabric on the surface of a wooden doll. Drapes of the doll's garment's are expressed by curving out lines on the wooden body and pasting fabric on the surface using a steal tooth pick like tool.
It is said we should put away the dolls immediately after March 3rd otherwise it is likely that our daughter's marriage become delayed.
Today's dinner menu is;
Gomoku-zushi or vinegared rice mixed with cooked vegetables
I put ikura, salmon's eggs and nori on top.
Shira-ae or tofu mixed with vegetables
Ushio-jiru or clam soupI had cherry blossom shaped 'fu' or wheat bran in stock and put some as garnish which makes simple soup look pretty and yummy.
desert, cake which I bought at the supermarket.
desert, cake which I bought at the supermarket.
i remember the display at the ISA, in fact i took photos of them. i thought to blog about them but i never did :D
ReplyDeleteare u saying the two dolls were made by your mum? they are nice.
do u have japanese food that are spicy (ie hot with chilli)?
Yes, they were made by my mother. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteTo your question I thought about hot Japanese food carefully but nothing in particular came up in my mind!
All foods I can think of are non-Japanese. Sometimes we cook vegetables with a bit of red pepper but it is not that spicy as other Asian country's food. My conclusion is that there is no hot Japanese food! People who love spicy tastes put chili powder seasoning on almost every food when they eat.
I remember Hina-matsuri song sing by Morning Musume. The children will wear kimonos for this festive and look so kawaiii...
ReplyDeleteThank you for your commnent, Malay-Kadazan girl! Do you know Morning Musume? Since last year other girls unit named AKB 48 has been very popular in Japan.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, my recent surprise was that Japanese word 'kawaii' has been exported to European countries.
Dear Komichan.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are & family are allright in the recent earth quake and tsunami. I read that the tsunami affected tokyo & I was sure that you live not very far from tokyo. Hope everything is allright.
Thank you for caring about us. We are all fine. It was the biggest earthquake I ever experienced. When the quake happened my children and I were at home and we rushed outside for safety. Some items in my house dropped or fell down but had almost no damage. My husband was at work in Tokyo. We could not contact him immediately after the quake but we did finally and made sure he was safe. All the train were stopped all day and he could not come home. But he was lucky that his parents were living in Tokyo not far from his office and they were fine, too. I will post a report about the quake soon.
ReplyDelete