Around the World

Children's Day in Japan

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-05-25 10:26

Japan marks Children's Day on May 5, when families celebrate the healthy growth and happiness of children. It became a national holiday in 1948.

Japanese girls prepare to float paper boats at the bank of a river in Tokyo to celebrate the Doll Festival, March 3. Photo taken on March 2, 2008. [File photo/Xinhua]

The fifth day of the fifth month was traditionally called Tango no sekku in Japan and was a festival for boys. Girls have their own festival, called Hina matsuri (Doll Festival), on the third day of the third month.

On Children's Day, Japanese families with boys fly huge carp-shaped streamers (koinobori) outside the house and display dolls of famous warriors and other heroes inside. The carp was chosen because it symbolizes strength and success; according to legend, a carp swam upstream to become a dragon.

In recent years, the carp streamers have gotten smaller, as more people have moved into apartments and smaller houses, and there are now miniature versions that adorn the inside.

Also on this day, Japanese families often take baths sprinkled with iris leaves and roots. This is because the iris is thought to promote good health and ward off evil. Rice cakes wrapped in oak leaves and filled with sweet bean paste, called kashiwamochi, are also eaten.