We’re in the middle of the doll festival right now. I remember seeing Kurosawa’s film the Dream, where the dolls came to life. I know when I was little I was very aware of the personalities and spirits of all the stuffed animals and dolls I had. I haven’t sat down and considered all of them… but I imagine ion some ways they were probably aspects of my child-self.
I love the idea of the hina-matsuri…
(image from kungfootv on flickr)
Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits in their bodies, and would thus save the owner from dangerous encounters.
More about Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival
Most families take their beautiful collection of dolls out of the closet around mid-February and put it away again as soon as Hina Matsuri is over. This is because of an old superstition that families that are slow in putting back the dolls have trouble marrying off their daughters. (from Kids’Web)
Hinamatsuri is over on the 3rd of March, so people will be taking them down quick.
I enjoyed this and all the different websites that I have visited. I’m taking a Cultural Diversity class at Collage of Sequoias and we had to put together a celebration and then do a report on it. My group picked Hinamatsuri.