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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Peel Castle on St. Patrick’s Isle with the Isle of Man in the background
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Rethymno, Crete, Greece
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Santorini, Greece
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Irohazaka road
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Why does this panda cub look so happy?
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Lake Pehoé, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
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Gazing upon Portraits of Change
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Bridges to the past
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Penn Station
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Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Arkansas
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Indian Independence Day
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Birds of a feather
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National Fossil Day
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Mardi Gras flower power
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Hello, harbinger of spring
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A leafy seadragon in the waters off Wool Bay, Australia
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National Park Service anniversary
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Baddest of the badlands
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Hooray, hooray, it s Unicorn Day!
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It’s National Dolphin Day!
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Upstate autumn
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75th anniversary of the Spruce Goose
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Life in the slow lane
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Making it work—in Norway
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Classical music takes center stage
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Indigenous Peoples Day
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Village of Labro, Italy
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Hollywood s big night
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A hermitage with a view
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Gateway to America