I love cherry blossoms. I think they are beautiful. I have always wanted to have a weeping cherry tree in my yard. From March 26-April 10th, 2011, Washington DC has it's National Cherry Blossom Festival. All around the Capital, there are cherry trees in bloom (peak was said to have been on March 29-April 1). The cherry trees were a gift from Japan to the United States to signify the friendship between our nations. That friendship was reciprocated by the US sending dogwoods to Japan. This year, the friendship between our nations is even more significant following the loss of life and devastation in Japan last month when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the island. Japan Relief efforts are going on along with the festivities surrounding this most beautiful time of year.
I have never been to our nation's capital, but I would for sure love to go while the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Next year in the centennial (1912 was the year Japan first gifted the trees to the US) and I bet it will be an amazing celebration. In Japan, the cherry blossom has signified many things starting with the circle of life due to the short lifespan of the blossoms. Later, it came to represent the short lifespans of the samurai followed by the kamikaze; they also represent drops of blood. Sacrifice. Life lost. Today, they are associated with spring, innocence and simplicity.
In China, however, the cherry blossom takes on a whole different meaning: women's dominance and beauty as well as feminine sexuality. I suppose that is why so many women adorn their bodies with tattoos of these beautiful blossoms to say just that!
May you today embrace the beauty of what is before you in all of its glory!
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