Unique End-of-winter Holidays: Girl's Day, Boy's Day

While Japan has adopted  and improvised on some Western holidays like Christmas and Valentine's day, it also has quite a unique set of its own holidays.

O-Hinamatsuri - Girl's Day

Dating back to the Heian Period (late 8th century to late 12th century), this holiday was traditionally meant to ward away the bad spirits. Originally, every year straw dolls were collected in a boat and set afloat down the river and out to see, supposedly taking the bad luck with them. Nowadays, people no longer do that. You can, however, see colorful, elaborate displays of dolls representing the empress and emperor. The most is a 7-tiered platform, with a red carpet on which the dolls are placed.

Dolls begin to be displayed around February, and are taken down on March 3rd (superstition says that taking it down after the 4th can result in late marriage for a daughter!). From my own observations, this is also a time to celebrate daughters -- just like we have a mother's day or a father's day. Several families I know celebrated the first Hinamatsuri for their babies.

My pottery teacher was in charge of his town's City Hall and had his hands quite full with the City Hall doll display. However, that did give me the opportunity to make my own (much smaller) set of dolls!

Kodomo no Hi - Children's Day

Initially, this was boy's day, but that changed when it became a National holiday in Japan. This holiday, which used to take place on the 5th day of the 5th moon of the lunar calendar (confusing!), was changed permanently to May 5th when Japan officially changed to the Gregorian calendar. To celebrate, families raise flags of carp. The movement of the flag makes it look like the carp is swimming, the symbolism which calls to a traditional Japanese fairy tale about a boy named Kintaro. Some people also display a doll of Kintaro and a miniature set of the traditional samurai helmet/regalia, traditional gifts for newborn sons. I had the opportunity to see some of these, as one of my friends' parents kept a full set of my friend's (received by friends and family when he was born) as well as my friend's father's own set. Needless to say, they took up a whole table.

Children's day also marks the beginning of summer, and heralds the return of the rainy season...believe it or not, it's Spring in Japan now!

Valentine's Day Culture in Japan

It's now April, so it's about time I try to catch up on the months. I'll start with February, as nothing particularly interesting happens in January after New Year's.

In America, February is heralded (often as soon as Christmas is out) by heart shaped signs and confections in reds and pinks. For even the most hard-hearted of folks, it is impossible to escape this holiday and the repercussions of (gasp!) forgetting to get something for a significant other.

For those not romantically involved, it's a nice opportunity to give small gifts to friends, as well as a perfect excuse to eat your weight in chocolate.

In Japan, the borrowed holiday has been adopted as a holiday for lovers. While it's become a little more popular to give chocolates to your friends, it's mostly a couples holiday. The Japanese also capitalized big on this by creating another holiday to go along with it: White Day.

So what's the difference?

Well, on Valentine's Day, women give chocolates to the men (or special man) in their lives. Mothers will usually give some to their sons as well, as a show of affection. Handmade chocolates are particularly impressive, and -- when well-done -- coveted. Boys at school often joke eagerly about who will receive the most chocolates (even though they're not allowed to give them or receive them at school!)

White day, in turn, takes place on March 14th. This is the time when people reciprocate for the gifts they've received, usually with white chocolate in return. If you really know your gifter, you'll get them what they actually liked.

While I enjoyed the displays, I definitely didn't let Japanese conventions stop me this year. I made chocolates for my female coworkers, and my direct male boss as well (some people call this last one giri or obligation chocolate, but he's a really awesome boss!). As a result, I cashed in pretty well on White day!