Happy Girls’ Day, Japan!

As wintry weather blossoms into spring, today’s Doodle celebrates Japan’s Girls’ Day or Hinamatsuri (雛祭り), additionally referred to as the Doll’s Festival.

On this day, households want for the health, growth, and happiness of Japan’s younger girls, historically via exhibiting units of costumed Hiina dolls that represent members of the imperial court dating returned to Japan’s Heian length (A.D. 794 to 1185).

So what connection does the show of ornate dolls have with the happiness of Japan’s youth? During the Heian era, noble young people performed with Hiina (paper dolls), creating a culture regarded as Hiina-Asobi (doll play).

Members of the Imperial courtroom believed the dolls would soak up the children’s awful luck, as a consequence defending them from evil spirits. In some areas of Japan, these dolls had been launched to go with the flow down a river. Now, human beings show porcelain dolls with brightly colored clothing—a tradition dating back to the Edo period—to celebrate and to wish women fitness and prosperity with traditional foods such as Chirashi-Sushi.