Progress

Today is Hina Matsuri, Japan's Girls' Day or Doll Festival. It's a tradition that began in the late 8th century, back when the third day of the third month was determined by the lunar calendar. That would have been around May, when peach blossoms were out, the world was smelling sweet, and it was time for a collective "Awwwww."

Families collected bad spirits, folded them into paper dolls and set them afloat on rivers, leaving the households' daughters better prepared for marriages. Nowadays, the practice is not encouraged, as it messes with fishing nets. And somewhere in the past 1,300 years, the dolls became hina ningyo, ornate dolls carefully arranged on a tiered structure and dressed in royal garb from the Heian Period, when Kyoto was the center of the empire. Finally, in the mid-19th century, Japan adopted a western calendar and Girls' Day got pushed back a couple of months into the end of winter.

So the people -- and here, I'm pretty sure I mean the moms -- adapted. Peach-shaped candies, sweetened with red beans, appeared. Clams, more a winter than spring dish, also moved onto the menu, symbolizing a perfectly united couple when closed and a Georgia O'Keeffe-inspired flower when opened. A sweet, non-alcoholic sake is still served along with mazegohan, a mixed rice bowl that you might find on your neighborhood sushi restaurant as chirashizushi.

The evolution didn't stop there. Oh yes, there are pink and white candies all around Tokyo today, special desserts and cards and other trinkets that I'm sure cost a pretty yen. But nothing beats the Hello Kitty encased banana I found at my little grocery store this weekend. It's times like these when we ask: What Would Freud Do? I'm guessing a little chuckle would be in order.

But, yes, Hello Kitty, we still have a ways to go. Tango no Sekku is celebrated May 5 officially as Children's Day. Until 1948, it was Boys' Day, and its traditions still include more dragons, snails and puppy-dog tails , among other things. May 5 falls in Japan's Golden Week, a set of back-to-back celebrations that are national holidays. The bottom line: on Girls' Day everyone goes to school. On Boys' Day, you get to sleep in and watch cartoons all day long.

This Girls' Day, and I, too, have to go to work. First, I'll slice up my banana for my breakfast cereal and give a little wink to Kitty. All seriousness aside, I get a kick out of the commercialization of holidays. We've got to find entertainment where we can. And if you ask me, Hello Kitty beats the socks off the Easter Bunny any day.

Happy Hina Matsuri!