I have always wanted to travel to Japan to take part in hanami.
The literal translation of hanami (花見) is "flower viewing", while the viewing of cherry blossom specifically is called sakura, yet it is the former that is most often used to refer to what is known as the Cherry Blossom Festival.
It's based on an ancient custom that encourages people to pause and appreciate the transient nature of life and beauty as trees awaken from their winter sleep. It happens in Japan around the end of March when temperatures there begin to rise. It's a short-lived event, as the blossoms last only a few weeks.
The Japanese celebrate it in style with outdoor parties, picnics and street festivals. Artificial lights are hung so that people can party on into the night.
On my walk today I partook in sakuru, but as it was early in the morning, and I was by myself so the only celebration I had was my flask of coffee.
Uttarayan is another festival I would love to attend. It is one of the biggest festivals in Gujarat. It is the International Kite Festival and according to the Indian calendar, it marks the day when winter begins to turn into summer. Months beforehand, homes in Gujarat begin to manufacture kites for the festival. In many cities they will be used in the numerous kite competitions. It is such a huge and popular celebration that it has become a public holiday in India lasting two days.
Now I didn’t see any manufactured kites on my walk but delighted as always to watch a red kite overhead.
These are incredibly graceful birds in flight and easy to recognise with their deeply forked tails. The one I was looking at was quite high in a dull sky, so the reddish-brown colour which gives the bird part of its name was not really visible to the naked eye.
Now I must admit I hadn’t heard of my third festival until I went searching for it but I discovered SWAN Day. So this may be an excuse for me to include a couple of other shots but it also is actually a very worthwhile event
SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now Day) is an international initiative designed to showcase the power and diversity of women's creativity. Every year since 2008 people around the world have created events that celebrate women artists during the months of March and April
So that marks the end of this week’s festivities. and now it's time for a little shut eye
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