March 3d the Girls Festival in Japan

Yesterday was the Girls Festival in Japan, also known as The Doll Festival. We receive an ad from a Japanese Grocery Store each week, and this week's ad featured sweets for the Doll Festival celebrations; culturally, this is a holiday apparently alive and well among Japanese Families. For information on the Hina Matsuri and other dolls, I recommend The Yokohama Doll Museum site, and works by Scot Alan Pate and Lea Baten. Pat Smith also wrote a book on Asian Dolls, and Judy Shoaf has a great website. If you have not read Rumer Godden's Miss Happiness and Miss Flower and Little Plum about the Festival and the lives of three Japanese dolls, you must. Godden actually had the Japanese doll house built and landscape in inspire her. She also had another antique doll house, featured in other books.