2027 Hinamatsuri

Hinamatsuri on March 3 is Japan's Doll Festival, also called Girls' Day or the Peach Festival, when families pray for the health and happiness of their daughters. It descends from Heian-period purification rites in which paper dolls were floated down rivers to carry away misfortune, a custom still seen as nagashi-bina in some towns. Households display a tiered stand covered in red cloth with hina dolls representing the Emperor and Empress at the top and court ladies, musicians and ministers below; the set is put out in mid-February and packed away promptly after March 3, since leaving it out is said to delay a daughter's marriage. Typical foods are chirashi sushi, diamond-shaped pink, white and green hishimochi rice cakes, sweet hina-arare crackers, clam soup and white sweet sake. It is not a public holiday, so celebrations take place at home and in kindergartens, and department stores sell dolls from January. This countdown ticks to midnight Tokyo time on March 3.