Happy Girl’s Day! I made a cute geisha lampwork bead pendant. Her name is Sakura “Cherry Blossom”. You can find her in my Etsy Shop:

March 3rd is Girls Day, “Hina matsuri” in Japan.  The origin of this festival dates back to ancient Chinese purification rituals for getting rid of bad luck. During the Heian period (794 – 1185) in Japan, people let straw or paper dolls float down the river or the ocean as their substitutes to take bad luck away from them. This tradition remains today in some regions of Japan as nagashi-bina (floating hina dolls). The purification ritual was unified with aristocratic girls’ playing with dolls, and hina matsuri was established as Japanese Girl’s Festival during the Edo Period (1603-1867). 

Many families with girl’s celebrate by displaying “Hina” dolls. The dolls are displayed from late February to March 3rd. Traditional belief is that if the dolls are not taken down soon after the festival, girls may have to wait for marriage.  In our family, the dolls came out occasionally, and then were put away “eventually”. I’m happy to say that I am the fourth daughter of four girls, and we all managed to marry in a timely manner :-).

Here are some of my dolls and things Japanese from my collection (the two sitting in the front on platforms are the Emperor and Empress hina dolls; gifts to my daughter from my parents):

Some “rescue” dolls. DH bought them during business trips at antique shops and museum stores:

A kokeshi doll, kimekomi ningyo (made by my mother), mini-babies, and mini daruma style hina dolls:

Some “tansu” trinket boxes:American style ceramic music box (plays sukiyaki), trinket box, and sugar/cream set: