Does anyone celebrate the Dolls' Day Festival?

**ubarose** · January 13th, 2005, 03:02 AM

Robin,

Thanks for letting me know that your doll also has no legs. Mine is a homemade doll, so she looks nothing like any of the fancy dolls that are on the internet or in photos of the festival.

**Shawniec** · January 13th, 2005, 10:49 AM

Cherry,
Thanks for the information; this sounds like a really fun thing to do. I'm going to put it on my calendar so DDs, the dolls, and I can have a party. And I just realized that my youngest daughter's Samantha will be an official part of our family by then too (her birthday is in late February) - what a great way to celebrate.

QNPoohBear,
Thanks for the information about that book; I'm going to see if I can find it!

Shawn

**QNPoohBear** · January 13th, 2005, 08:05 PM

Here are some good links I found on Hina Matsuri.

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf/Jdolls/hina.htm

http://www.ginkoya.com/pages/girlsday.html

http://www.rumela.com/events/hina_matsuri.htm

http://www.farstrider.net/Japan/Festivals/HinaMatsuri/

Monchichis on Dolls' Day
http://home.t-online.de/home/320042857813-9876/sr.htm

**dornroeschen** · January 13th, 2005, 08:06 PM

Originally posted by Nicole J:
AGme,
What's MLK day?

editing to say I figured it out - Martin Luther King Day

[ January 13, 2005 02:49 PM: Message edited by: Nicole J ]

It took me a while too to figure it out, first I thought it was Milk Day and just the i missing.

Originally posted by Sakurako:
Samantha could have been aware of Japanese culture. Oriental porcelains and clothing influenced European and American decor and styles at the turn of the century, and I'm sure the Admiral would have brought her a gift from China or Japan during his global travels.

Oriental culture was also popular during the 18th century. At Sch?nbrunn Palace you find a couple of rooms from the late 18th century in Chinese style, like the Chinese Cabinets and the Blue Chinese Salon.

Cherry, I like the idea of a Dolls Day Festival very much and thanks for telling us all about it.

**Sakurako** · January 13th, 2005, 09:02 PM

Wow, what beautiful rooms! Thanks for posting the links. One of the museums in Springfield which is part of the Quadrangle (the Dr. Seuss Sculpture garden is in the center of the Quad) is the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum. He and his wife made an amazing collection of Oriental art. I used to go there as a child all the time. There's a room in the museum set up to show what his sitting room would have looked like and it has the same feeling (but less opulence) as these.

**PrincessRuthie** · January 13th, 2005, 09:06 PM

Thanks again, Cherry! [img]smile.gif[/img]

**AG DRESS DESIGNER** · January 14th, 2005, 03:13 AM

I wasn't aware of this festival until Cherry told me. Now that Blossom (Kimberly Gotz) has come to live with us, we shall certainly celebrate.

**Sakurako** · January 14th, 2005, 04:04 AM

I was trying to think last night about a good source of info -- not too detailed -- about this festival, as celebrated in a western context. Rumer Godden wrote two books for children (among many great ones) which describe how an English child learned about Japanese culture. The first is Miss Happiness and Miss Flower. The second is Little Plum. The second book continues the story from the first -- I think they're both available in paperback from Amazon. The book about Little Plum ends with a Dolls' Day festival.

The court dolls which are used in Japan for this festival generally are seated (so no legs). They can be very simple or very detailed and vary in sizes and elaborateness of costume. A full set would be arranged on a pyramid of shelves covered with red carpet (or fabric or paper). The Emperor and Empress sit at the top. On the next level are 3 ministers, I believe -- political types who would advise the emperor. Then there are 5 musicians. A really big set could include other courtiers and accessories, such as flowering trees (at the bottom level), a ceremonial carriage and plates of delicacies to feed all the dolls involved. One story I read about this festival mentioned that the little girl was allowed to place her sleeping mat near the pyramid on the night of the festival and she fell asleep watching the candlelight move across the dolls' faces.

For our purposes, it might be fun to have a party for a few little girls and their dolls with Chinese take-out food or rice cakes toasted and served with honey and a tea party for all the dolls, perhaps served on low tables. The daughters of a friend of mine invited me to a Dolls Day party in which we had wonton soup from a local Chinese place, fried rice and tea -- all served on the livingroom coffee table and everyone sat on cushions on the floor around it. You could serve fruit-flavored sherbet for dessert.

The traditional Japanese sweets that my friends in Osaka sent me one year looked a lot like gummi candy, but of course they were all made from rice. Good and Plenty candy or candy with those hard white dots stuck all over it -- like nonpareils? -- would also be a good Western substitute because they are pink and white. Don't forget to make folded paper fans, too!

Samantha could have been aware of Japanese culture. Oriental porcelains and clothing influenced European and American decor and styles at the turn of the century, and I'm sure the Admiral would have brought her a gift from China or Japan during his global travels.