Kodomo no hi

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Image:Koinobori4797.jpg Kodomo no hi (こどもの日; meaning "Children's Day") is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5. It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness.

It was originally called Tango no Sekku (端午の節句), which may originally be the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival (端午節). Sekku means a season's festival (there are nowadays five Sekku per year). This one was considered to mark the beginning of the summer or of the rainy season. Tango has a double meaning: Tan means "edge"/"first" and go means "noon". In japanese go also means five (五), which could refer to the date of the festival being the fifth day of the fifth month. From the beginning of history, the fifth month of the Chinese calendar was said to be a month for purification, and many rites that were said to drive away evil spirits were performed in this month.

Although it is not known precisely when this day started to be celebrated, it was probably during the reign of the Empress Suiko (593-628 A.D.). In Japan, Tango no Sekku was assigned to the 5th day of the 5th month after the Nara period. Until recently, Tango no Sekku was the boys' day (also known as Feast of Banners) while the girls' day (Hinamatsuri) was celebrated on March 3. In 1948, the government decreed this day to be a national holiday to celebrate happiness of children and express gratitude towards mothers. It was then renamed to Kodomo no hi.

On this day, families raise the carp-shaped Koinobori flags, one for each boy (or child), and display the doll of Kintarou usually mounting on a large carp, and the traditional Japanese helmet, Kabuto. Kintarou and the Kabuto are both the symbol of a strong and healthy boy. Kintarou (金太郎) is the childhood name of Sakata no Kintoki who was a hero in the Heian period, a subordinate samurai of Minamoto no Raikou, having been famous for his strength when he was a child in Japan. It is said that Kintarou mounted on a bear, instead of a horse, and played with animals in the mountain when he was a young boy. Mochi rice cakes wrapped in kashiwa oak leaves, that is, kashiwa-mochi and chimaki, are traditionally eaten on this day.