In most of all Japanese families, we celebrate the day of March 3rd as the Doll Festival by setting up a display of traditional Japanese dolls called "Ohinasama". It's a historical culture of ours ever since 300 years before to pray for girls' good health and happiness throughout their lives keeping away from the bad evils. People had believed that those dolls were to take girls' places in carrying away every bad evil.
I have a daughter who has just turned to 20 years old. Even now, though she is away from home for her university , I make it a rule to set up her "Ohinasama" at home which her grandmother gave her for her first Doll Festival twenty years ago.
Dolls are carefully put into a wooden box for almost 12 months except a month or shorter than a month before the arrival of the first day of spring in the lunatic calendar.
It's such an exciting moment for girls and their families to open the box , set them up on the display with some spring flowers arrangements and some special sweets.
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