Hinamatsuri

Hinamatsuri, also known as 'Girls Day' or the Doll Festival is held on March 3rd in Japan. The festival began in the Heian Period about 794-1192. The doll festival takes place on the 3rd but actually begins a week prior when families set up the series of shelves to display the special set of dolls and accessories on. In the process of displaying and putting these dolls away families will pray for the happiness and health of the girls in the home. The number of shelves and the ornateness of the dolls depends on the family. There is no requirement to have all seven shelves. Simply having the doll couple and the first shelf is enough. Some businesses will also set up doll displays to wish their female employees and/or customers good health for the year.
However, the other side to the ceremony is that if girls do not put the dolls away quickly enough after hinamatsuri, she will not be married for a long time.
The dolls are all dressed in traditional clothing, the main couple, who represent the Emperor and Empress, sit at the top, then three ladies in waiting under them. Those first two shelves are the most common to see in family homes because the full display is quite large.

This is the full set of Hina dolls owned by the Kyoto National Museum. (Image Source)

Hina Doll Video
Aside from just displaying fancy dolls, every year girls are honored in different ways by their communities and cities. This year to draw attention to the fact that the majority of pilots on Japanese airlines are male, one airline made a special flight where all staff on board were women. The NHK, a major news channel, reported on this event saying that only 0.7 percent of pilots on Japanese airlines are women, and that many passengers said they were honored to be apart of the special all female flight. A result of this was more airlines claiming they wish to hire more women. ( NHK Article and video)