日本女孩节

Hina Matsuri  
  
March 3 is Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival or Girls' Festival), when people pray for the happiness and healthy growth of girls. Families with young daughters mark this day by setting up a display of dolls inside the house.

The dolls wear costumes of the imperial court during the Heian period (794-1192) and are placed on a tiered platform covered with red felt. The size of the dolls and number of steps vary, but usually the displays are of five or seven layers; single-tiered decorations with one male and one female doll are also common.

The top tier is reserved for the emperor and the empress. A miniature gilded folding screen is placed behind them, just like the real Imperial throne of the ancient court.


 日本女孩节

    3月3日是日本女孩节（玩偶节或者女孩节），人们会在这天为正在成长中的女孩祈祷快乐和健康。有年轻女孩的家庭到了这天都会把玩偶拿出来展示在房间里面。

    玩偶们穿着日本平安时代（794-1192）的皇室服装，被一层层地放在覆盖着红毡子的平台上。玩偶的大小和台阶的层数各式各样，但通常是5-7层；不过有一个男玩偶和一个女玩偶的单层装饰品也很普遍。

    最高层是为皇帝和女皇保留的。他们后面放着缩小的镀金屏风，正如古代皇宫真正的宝座一样。

* Heian period     平安时代
* felt     (n.)     毡
* gilded     (adj.)     镀金的
* folding screen     屏风

 On the second tier are three ladies-in-waiting, and on the third are five male court musicians. Ministers sit on either side of trays of food on the fourth step, and the fifth row features guards flanked by an orange tree to the left and a cherry tree to the right.

The practice of displaying these dolls on the third day of the third month on the traditional Japanese calendar began during the Edo period (1603-1868). It started as a way of warding off evil spirits, with the dolls acting as a charm. Even today, people in some parts of the country release paper dolls into rivers after the festival, praying that the dolls take people's place in carrying away sickness and bad fortune.

Most families take their beautiful collection of dolls out of the closet around mid-February and put it away again as soon as Hina Matsuri is over. This is because of an old superstition that families that are slow in putting back the dolls have trouble marrying off their daughters.


 第2层是3个侍女，第3层是5个男宫廷乐师。大臣坐在第4层食品盘子的一边，第5层是守卫，左边是一棵橙树，右边是一棵樱桃树，从侧面包围着他们。

    这个在日本农历的3月3日展示玩偶的习俗开始于Edo时期（1603-1868）。它是一种驱散恶魔的方法，玩偶有这样的一种魔力。即使今天，在日本的一些地方，节日后的人们也会把纸玩偶放入河里，祈祷它们能替人们带走疾病和厄运。

    大多数家庭在二月中旬左右就把他们收集的美丽玩偶拿出橱柜，结束后再立即放起来。这是因为一个古老的迷信，如果把玩偶收回的晚了，那么他们的女儿就不容易嫁出去。

* practice      (n.)     惯例
* warding off     避开

-------------------- ~落花无言，人淡如菊~