Cherry Blossoms
Festival
This year, Washington's cherry blossom festival ended the weekend of our wedding. However, the famed and fickle CBs themselves aren't always on the same schedule as the Festival's planning committee. The peak bloom was predicted to be March 27-April 1. However, different varieties of the trees bloom at slightly different times.
The big parade was from 10 to noon on Saturday, April 8, on Constitution Avenue.
Symbolism
The CBs have been a Washington icon and the local harbinger of spring since their arrival in 1912.
In Japanese culture, cherry blossoms are a symbol of the cyclical nature of life, as well as its transience. Because they bloom for only a few days a year, they remind us to stop and appreciate where we are in the moment, before the moment is gone. They are at once a symbol of abundance and scarcity, youth and death, remembering and letting go.
As
such, they are a favorite subject of haiku writers (trivia: did you know
that Carrie is a published haiku poet? True! But barely!). Here are some
examples by master haijin Issa:
| blown to the big river floating away... cherry blossoms |
though my rice sack is empty... cherry blossoms! |
| evening cherry blossoms-- the ants also have a place to sleep |
growing old-- even the cherry blossoms make me cranky |
| simply trust! cherry blossoms trickling down |
fluttering down mulch for the field cherry blossoms |