"Hinamatsuri,” or what is known in Japan as “Doll's Festival," is held annually on March 3rd as a day to pray for the growth and happiness of Japan’s charming girls & young ladies. It is also called "Momo no sekku” or the “Peach Festival" because March is the peach blossom season on the old lunar calendar.
For this special day the Executive Chef of Okura’s famed Yamazato Restaurant has prepared an exclusive menu that included Appetizer, Rice with Bambooshoot, Seasonal Sashimi, Steamed Shrimp Cake, Grilled Salmon with Sweet Sake, Vegetable Noodle and Dessert. This feast celebrates all daughters and their families on this happy day!
Hinamatsuri Set Lunch: MOP 338 per person
Price is subject to 10 % service charge
Available Date: February 19 to March 3, 2018
Available Time: 12:00-15:00
For reservations and enquiries: (853) 8883 5127
Email: [email protected]
Operating Hours: 12:00-15:00|17:30-22:00
Closed on Monday
Seats: 70
Private Dining Room – Maximum capacity 12 Seats
Sushi Bar – Maximum capacity 8 Seats
28/F • Hotel Okura Macau
Galaxy Macau™ • COTAI • Macau
Short story of Dolls’ Festival
The festival for girls is called Hina no Sekku or Hina Matsuri, which both meal Dolls’ Festival. It can also be referred to as Momo no Sekku, meaning Peach Festival. When the lunar calendar was in use, the third month saw the blooming of peach blossoms – hence the latter name. Because March comes a month earlier than the original “third month”, peach trees are not yet in bloom. Plum and cherry blossoms are nowadays associated with the festival. The cherry tree (sakura) blooms in March or April and this is a feast in its own right. During hanami (flower viewing) scores of people collect under the trees day and night to have picnics, drink sake and admire the blossom. In medieval times the cherry blossom became an icon of the poetic sensitivity of the aristocracy, but in the Edo period it started to represent the whole of Japanese culture.
On Dolls’ Festival, dolls representing the emperor, the empress, courtiers and court musicians are usually set up in a conspicuous spot in the house and admired for several days. Diamond-shaped rice cakes hishimochi (representing a pattern used by suppliers of the imperial family) are placed as offerings, and a special kind of sweet “white sake” shirozake, made with rice malt, is drunk. In front of the altar, girls play games such as kaiawase, with clams or other shells. The two halves are separated and have to be matched by the contestants. Sometimes one half of the shell is decorated with the drawing of a plant and the other with its flower, or with other combinations that need to be matched.
In 1948 the boys’ Festival on May 5th was designated a national holiday and named Children’s Day (Kodomo no Hi). However, May 5th is still observed in most families as a festival for boys, while the Dolls’ Festival is celebrated as a day for girls.
