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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Don t forget—it’s World Elephant Day
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Jan van Eyckplein in Bruges, Belgium
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Bay Marker Lookout, Sydney Olympic Park, Australia
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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Laguna de Torrevieja, Spain
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Take the stairs
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Black History Month
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The Wave at Coyote Buttes
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Do spirits haunt the Gardens of Versailles?
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Juniper Springs, Florida
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World Environment Day
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Yabba-Dabba-Doo!
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Common raven
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Two rocks and a heart spot
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A notorious advocate for women
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Ponta da Piedade rock formations in Portugal
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A day for the oceans
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Back on the rise
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International Womens Day
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Sutherland Falls in Fiordland National Park
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Where do those colors come from?
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The birth of Bauhaus
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Blue linckia sea stars in Papua New Guinea
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harlem
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Why, aloe there