Hina Matsuri

Hina Matsuri is a Japanese festival that falls every year on March 3. It began in ancient times as a Shinto effigy ceremony to prepare farmers for the planting of spring crops: They would rub their negative energy off onto a paper doll, then float it down the river.

Shinto is the official religion of Japan. It is an optimistic faith: Shinto followers believe that humans are fundamentally good, and evil spirits cause evil in the world. Shinto's honor the kami-- spiritual essences that live in nature within the mountains, trees, and rivers. Shinto tradition says that there are eight million million kami in Japan.

Today girl's set up displays of dolls, have a tea party, and- yes- some people still send dolls down the river.

Agenda today:
1. Journal queries
2. Housework
3. Make hina dolls
4. Make paper boats
5. The hina-okuri ceremony
6. Make hishi mochi and have a tea party
7. Prepare garden beds for planting
8. Plant the sabzeh

1. Journal queries:
To prepare for the coming spring, today I will decide what issues and ills of mine I would like to send away. If I’m ready to release some of the weight I carry, then today is a good day to set that intention. 

I know that this is an ongoing process! My problems will not go away like magic, but if I name them, and choose to release them, I am taking a good first step.

Today I make a list of all the issues and habits I wish I didn’t have- indifference, fear, self-judgments, petty annoyances, and obsessive attachments- then I circle 2 or 3 that I’m ready to release today.

2. Housework:
In March each year I take the first steps of spring cleaning. I've been working at simplifying my stuff, and this week we cleared off two bookcases, sorted them, dusted them, and got rid of a big stack of books!

I also hope to do some repainting on the inside of my house. Today I hope to repaint our bathroom door.

3. Make Hina Dolls:

Hina dolls made by my students.

In the days leading up to Hina Matsuri, children display a collection of dolls, including the emperor and empress dolls, with many attendants. These hina dolls are often very elaborate, but children also make simple dolls, using origami paper for beautiful kimonos.


My art class students and I usually make dolls together each year, but this year we won't get the chance, so I've re-posted pictures from earlier years. We usually make two dolls each- one to keep and one to float down river.

Collar folded down.

Supplies: White paper strips (6-inches by 3/4-inch), plain and patterned origami paper, scissors, black paper for hair (tissue or crepe paper), glue stick

1. For the basic kimono, cut 2 sheets of 6” origami paper in half, and put them backside to backside.

Fold top down to make the collar.

Folding the kimono

2. Make some folds to fit the kimono around the white strip- fold the collar at an angle on each side, then fold the edges in to wrap around (this is sometimes tricky and takes some adjusting).

3. Cut and glue hair at the top of the white strip. (It's helpful to look at pictures of Japanese dolls and hairstyles- be imaginative and creative!)

4. Cut a strip for an obi (belt) and glue in place and add other fun details, such as a comb for the hair cut from paper, or a fan.

Decorating the boat

4. Make paper boats:
We also make these beautiful paper boats to carry our dolls away, following the instructions at the Adventures of Captain Crafty site, which is now defunct. I found the diagram, and redrew it! 

Supplies: Large square of freezer paper, permanent markers, a wooden skewer

1- Cut a large square of refrigerator paper. Decorate the waxed side with permanent pens. 

2- Fold as the diagram shows, with waxed side up. 

3- Later we added a skewer through the boats to hold the dolls in place.

In case you can't follow the diagram here's my video: 

5. The Hina-okuri ceremony:
Late in the afternoon some Japanese families perform the purification custom called hina-okuri: By stroking or breathing on the dolls they symbolically inject them with their own wrongdoings or ills, then they pile their dolls in a small wooden boat, and float them down the river! The river ritually bathes the dolls, and purifies the souls of the doll's owners. 

People in many cultures make effigy dolls in the spring to symbolically absorbs all bad luck and negative energy (see Maslenitsa for another example). 

As with any form of Shinto worship we begin with ritual washing, pouring water over our hands.

The second step is an offering to the kami. In this case, we are offering a paper doll. We each write down what we want to release on the paper inside our hina dolls.

Next we each take the doll in our hands, close our eyes, concentrate on those issues we are releasing, breathe on the doll, and wish that energy onto it.

Next we offer a silent prayer to the kami, of thanksgiving and petition for the future.

Finally, we send the dolls away: We take them to the creek and throw them into the current!



6. Make Hishi Mochi and have a tea party:

In Japan, children often share a tea party with friends on Hina Matsuri, with sweet sticky hishi mochi (HEE-she MO-chee), with pink, white, and green layers. White is for purification, green stands for health, and pink will chase away evil spirits.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 c. sweet rice flour (available in Asian food stores)
• 1 c. sugar
• green and pink food coloring
• corn starch

Yield: 15 pieces-

1- Combine sweet rice flour, sugar, and 1-1/2 c. very hot water in a bowl. Stir well with a wire whip to melt the sugar and get out all the lumps. The batter should be thin and pourable.

2- Separate the mochi batter into three bowls: Leave 1/2 of it white; color 1/4 green and 1/4 pink with food color.

3- Oil and dust a square cake pan with corn starch. Pour the green mochi batter into the pan and tilt to coat the bottom. Cover the pan well with foil, and bake at 350º for 10 minutes.


4- Remove the pan from the oven, peel back the foil, and pour the white layer on top of the green. Cover again and bake for 20 minutes more.

5- Pour in the pink layer, cover again, and bake for another 20 minutes.

6- Cool the mochi (it's best to cool overnight, but we can never wait that long!) and remove from the pan. Cut mochi into small diamond-shaped pieces with a pizza cutter. Use cornstarch to help keep the cutter from sticking. 

Make a ceremonial pot of tea to celebrate your new life. Set a nice table, with a flower; put on some Japanese music; choose a beautiful bowl to drink from; make and drink the tea with attention to every scent and taste.


7. Prepare garden beds for planting 

Remember- the root purpose of Hina Matsuri is to prepare ourselves for spring planting. Today, even though it's pouring rain, I will go out to weed a little.

8. Plant the sabzeh:

Our sabzeh: We keep them in a bag until the seeds sprout.

The sabzeh is a bowl of sprouted grains, prepared for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which begins every year on the Spring Equinox. The sabzeh is a symbol of new life.

Since it takes two weeks to get good looking sprouts, we usually start them on Hina Matsuri.

Supplies: A shallow bowl (we tried paper bowls last year and I can't say it was a success), damp soil, grain seeds (lentils and wheat are traditional; we planted a mixture of wheat, field peas, and ryegrain).

Fill the bowl with damp soil, cover the surface well with seeds, and spray daily with water.