Girls Day in Hawaii

@postaday 62; #postaday2011

Today girls are celebrated in Hawaii, an acquired Japanese tradition called Hina Matsuri, which is the festival of peach blossoms, aka the Japanese Doll Festival. Ever see beautiful Japanese dolls in protective acrylic boxes? That’s the kind of dolls I’m talking about.

I’m no expert, nor do I ever lie, but I will say that I THINK Girls Day in Hawaii was an answer to the uproar eventually generated by Boys Day in Hawaii, which is May 5. Families with boys hoist kites or flags of koi high upon the household flagpole, one for each boy. The flagpole with the most flags wins and dads get to do a little public chest thumping. Despite Boys Day being canceled and replaced with something politically neutral and generic such as something called Children’s Day, families with boys still let their fish flags fly. As they should. Why the heck not?

We’re a haole family, so this holiday isn’t traditionally high on our list. Let me explain. My girls never had Barbie dolls. I never did, so why should they? They have American Girl Bitty Babies because Sophie first got one as a hand-me-down from one of Mike and Suzanne Gordon’s daughters. I couldn’t believe such a beautiful baby doll would be passed down. But she was, and we thoroughly enjoyed her. Talk about a couple of girls I’ve watched grow up! But that’s another blog.

So we got a matching Bitty Baby for Charlotte. Those dolls filled our lives with hours of fun. My mother-in-law would make outfits for the dolls out of scraps remaining from her Aloha Shirt projects. We had strollers for the dolls, a cradle, a high chair, little dishes and fake food. The dolls would even go on road trips. Sophie named hers Acre, Charlotte named hers Rikki. Sophie named Acre when she was about three years old. I asked but I never could find out why she had such an unconventional name, except, perhaps, because she’s my kid. We still have those dolls, although they don’t get played with much. Cue the sad music from any Toy Story franchise flick.

There might be something here at work in the snack cube to celebrate Girls Day. Since I’m a girl, I’ll certainly partake. In Hawaii, the edges of traditions blend and expand to embrace those of us not quite connected. It’s a teaching moment, er, day.

Today’s link was from my friend Neenz Faleafine’s website, http://www.hawaiitraditions.com/