A joyful spring has come !

Hina dolls

It has already been in March. For Japanese, March is the joyful month in which we are relieved from dark & chilly winter and enjoy sunny, warm and flower blooming days.

The representative ceremony of spring is girls' festival or Momo no Sekku on 3rd March. Momo means a peach, Sekku is a ceremony. At Momo no Sekku, each household having daughter prays the girls’ happiness and joyful life. Momo no Sekku is also famous for dolls festival. As its name suggests, the highlight of this ceremony is the decoration of hina dolls in each household. 

The appearance of hina dolls is deeply influenced by fashion and lifestyle of imperial court around 1000 years ago. Hina dolls are consisted with a male doll and a female doll.A Male doll is called obina, a female one is called mebina. Obina and mebina are the married couple in aristocrat family. By displaying such gorgeous married couple, people wish eternal happiness and family prosperity of their daughters.

Japanese apricot

March is also the flower blooming season. From march to May, various flowers will bloom to decorate town in pastel color. The most famous flower in March is Japanese apricot. It starts blooming early in February till end of March. Its faint pink color tells us that spring has come. After blooming Japanese apricot, the cherry blossom season starts around end of March.

Rice cakes rolled with cherry leaf

Not only flowers, but also some confectioneries remind us the spring. 
The pink colored rice cake looks like cherry. The sweet bean paste is stuffed in it. The cake is rolled with the cherry leaf in salt. We can enjoy the combination of sweet and salty taste by eating the rice cake and the cherry leaf together.

In March, we will enjoy coming spring by eye and palate.   by A.C


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