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Each year on March 3 is Hinamatsuri - Girls' Day! At home this year, we displayed a set of ornamental Hinamatsuri dolls for the occasion as usual, and ate chirashi-zushi - a bowl of sushi rice topped with a variety of fresh ingredients such as raw fish and garnishes - for dinner. Hinamatsuri is an annual seasonal festival to pray for the health and happiness of girls in the family, and most Japanese families with girls display their Hinamatsuri dolls at home.

It's our family tradition that as soon as the February 3 Setsubun bean-throwing festival is over, we take our Hinamatsuri dolls out of storage, and display those beautiful decorative pieces. The Hinamatsuri display will stay until the night of March 3, but we quickly have to pack the dolls away on the following day. It's said that unless we pack them away quickly, girls in the family may end up marrying late.

It's quite a bit of work to set all the dolls up for display, but every year, we make sure that we display our Hinamatsuri dolls and eat delicious chirashi-zushi!

If I become a mother of a girl in the future, I'd love to celebrate the occasion with Hinamatsuri dolls and chirashi-zushi - just the way I've been celebrating it with my family!

Translation: Michele Yamada