Holiday A Day - Older Entries

http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa022501a.htm

Sunday

Mar022008

Hinamatsuri

Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 9:46PM

On March 3^rd Japanese families with daughters will celebrate Girl’s Day or Doll Festival as Hinamatsuri is also known. The tradition seems to originate from China over a thousand years ago but at some point transferred to Japan, where it is still celebrated. Most of the traditions center around the display of dolls that a girl has for this occasion. It is a five to seven layer tieredstructure that is set up in a prominent room of the house. These displays are normally quite elaborate and can be very expensive, but today there are small and less expensive sets for those with a smaller income or who live in an apartment. At the top most tier of the stand sits the dolls that represent the Emperor and Empress with the remaining tiers holding the servants of the court. All the dolls are dressed in very traditional clothing. The displays are set up a few weeks prior to the 3^rd of March and taken down very soon after that date, less bad luck or nightmares befall the girls to who the set belongs. Today the sets are taken down to prevent a late marriage for the girl.

Also on this day, late in the afternoon, people would make a doll out of paper to put all the evil spirits into, sickness and ill health. They would then put these in a boat and send them down river to take the evil with it, allowing the person to cleans themselves. This tradition has changed slightly in today's time. The boats are often collected after the people have set them afloat and taken to a temple and burned, still to cause the spirits to leave the person but allowing the boats and dolls not to be caught in fisherman's nets. I found one reference to boat even being made out of fish food making it very environmentally friendly.

The traditional drink of the celebration was amazake a non-alcoholic sake and arare a cracker favored with soy sauce.

Links:

Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri

General links

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

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

http://farstrider.net/Japan/Festivals/HinaMatsuri/index.htm

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/easter/mothers.htm

Sunday

Mar022008

Mothering Sunday

Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 12:05AM

In Britan on the fourth Sunday of Lent Mothering Sunday is celebrated, also sometimes known as Simnel Sunday, Refreshment Sunday or Mid-Lent Sunday. Origanally it was the one Sunday that all the parishiners would go to a larger church or cathediral, Mother Church. This appears to have started in the 1600’s though some information that I found suggests that it started earlier and may have had something to do with The Virgian Mary or maybe even Mother Earth. It seems clear though that in the 1600’s servents would be given one day off a year to return home to visit both their home church as well as there mother. Those who did this where said to have gone “A Mothering”.The reason this day is also known as Simnel Sunday is due to that being a traditional cake served on this day. The rules of Lent where relaxed, which alowed this to be done also pointing to the reference of this day as Refreshment Sunday. It was very common for the subjects of the sermons to be about food, inparticular the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Today, with the church becoming less a center of ones life, people see this day as a celebration of Mothers. It is quite common for childern to give there mothers cards and flowers, in a similar fashion to that of the Mother’s Day celebrated in the United States and other countries around the world.

Links:

Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothering_Sunday

BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/motheringsunday_2.shtml

General sites

http://www.mothersdaycelebration.com/mothering-sunday.html

http://www.mothers.net/englishmothersday.htm

Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_David%27s_Day

Friday

Feb292008

Saint David's Day

Friday, February 29, 2008 at 10:48PM

Saint David, the patrion Saint of Wales, is celebrated on March 1st.

St. David was a Celtic monk who lived about 100 years after the Romans left the British Isles. Little is known for sure about him, due to both the amount of time that has past and that no real records where kept. He was known to be very strict but also fair. Known for spreading the gospel and living a very frugal life, he is looked upon as an ideal to live up too. The most famous story tells of him giving a speech to a large group of people at Synod of Llanddewi Brefi, where to allow him to be heard and seen the ground raised beneath his feet.

David became a Saint in 1120 and thus his day was recorded in the church records.

Today St. David’s Day is celebrated through out Wales and any where there are those of Welsh decent. The most common tradition is that of wearing either leeks for men and daffodils for women. Also in Wales girls wear the traditional Welsh dress. Many individual events take place during the day and schools at one time would let out for half a day, but this practices is no longer supported by the national government. There is also a large parade in Cardif.

Links:

National History Museum of Wales http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/275/

Nice article http://www.davidmorgan.com/stdavid.html

Another nice article http://www.sucs.swan.ac.uk/~rhys/stdavid.html