March 3rd is known as Girl’s Festival (Hina Matsuri). This event blesses girls to grow up healthy and become happily married. The custom is to display dolls representing the ancient court and drink white sake (Shiro-zake).

Sekku is a seasonal festival derived from the Chinese calendar tradition, which originally had many variations. It was later organized into the 5 seasonal festivals (Go-sekku) during the Edo period. Out of the five seasonal festivals, the Girl’s Festival is called “Jyo-shi”.

The dolls decorated for the Girl’s Festival can be related to a custom coming from ancient China, when people used to purify their bodies in the river to expel evil spirits. The custom was imported to Japan during the Heian period, and people instead transferred the releasing of evil spirits into the form of a small paper doll released into a river or an ocean. “Nagashibina” is what remains of the original imported custom.

Over time, the dolls became more elaborate and people started to display them inside their houses instead of setting them afloat. This tradition of displaying the dolls became known as Hina Matsuri or Girl’s Festival. It is said that, in the beginning the custom was an event performed only by the court and nobleman, which then spread to the Samurai class, and eventually to commoners in the Edo period. The dolls replicate court members, which consist of a male and a female doll (only these two are called Hina), two court ministers (Udaijin and Sadaijin—literally left and right ministers), three female servants (San-nin kanjo), and five court musicians (Go-nin bayashi).

Typical foods associated with this event are diamond-shaped rice cakes (Hishimochi), colored rice crackers (Hina-arare), and white sake (Shiro-zake). Shiro-zake is made of mirin or shochu (distilled liquor from wheat or potato) mixed with steamed glutinous rice or rice malt. It is fermented for about a month and then lightly grinded to finish. Shiro-zake is cloudy white and contains about 9% alcohol. It has 45% sugar and is considered a liqueur by Japanese liquor tax law. Shiro-sake is often confused with Ama-zake (sweet sake), which has almost no alcohol content, but it is made of cooked rice or porridge mixed with rice malt, and then simmered to turn starch into sugar. Ama-zake is akin to a soft drink, so to speak, and is completely different than Shiro-zake.

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