One of the most special things for me about living in St Petersburg is the large amount of international people that I come into contact with- I feel so privileged to learn about so many different cultures. This past month I learned about “Hinamatsuri” the Japanese doll festive or Girls Day.
Here is the explanation from Wikipedia - The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi ("doll floating"), in which straw hina dolls are set afloat on a boat and sent down a river to the sea, supposedly taking troubles or bad spirits with them. The Shimogamo shrine celebrates the Nagashibina by floating these dolls between the Takano and Kamo rivers to pray for the safety of children. People have stopped doing this now because of fishermen catching the dolls in their nets. They now send them out to sea, and when the spectators are gone they take the boats out of the water and bring them back to the temple and burn them.
The most beautiful display of dolls is set out to celebrate this holiday. There are 7 platforms set up and covered with a red cloth. The dolls are made to represent the emperor, emperors, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period. Below is a picture of the display at the Japanese Consulate. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The detail on each doll was truly amazing, not only was each doll is dressed in the traditional clothing but each had hand panted faces and beautiful silky hair. Here is the significance of the doll order and decorations… to learn about the dolls click here.