This week marks the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which commemorates the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Japan to the city of Washington, DC, in 1912. The National Park Service says that during a two-week period each spring, the festival draws more than one million visitors to the National Mall, aka America’s Front Yard. In Japan, the custom of picnicking under the cherry blossoms is known as ‘hanami,’ and it’s said to be more spectacular at night, when revelers hang lanterns from the tree branches to illuminate the blooms.
Cherry blossoms at the National Mall, Washington, DC
Today in History
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Midwinter freeze
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Making it work—in Norway
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A bird of beauty
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Mediterranean red sea stars
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Languid life on the Lakes
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Hollywood s big night
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International Day of Peace
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Fight for your lefts
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Isla del Pescado on the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia
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The village of Castelluccio above the Piano Grande, Umbria, Italy
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America s Playground by Derrick Adams
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What’s blooming in New Zealand?
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Why do elephants hide in trees?
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Tintern Abbey, Wales
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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Autumn comes to the Porcupines
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In the footsteps of Leopold Bloom
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Seven Magic Mountains art installation, Jean Dry Lake, Nevada
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It s a good day to be green
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A bridge of Madison County
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Sandhill cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
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National Park Week: Haleakalā National Park, Hawaii
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International Polar Bear Day
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Getting to the bottom of the underwater waterfall
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Illuminating Annecy
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Martin Luther King Day
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A river runs through rice fields
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Happy Boxing Day!
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Shadows on the solstice
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A tribute to the ancestors