Washington, Mar 25 (EFE) a “geek mania” for these trees.
Dressed in pink and after months of planning it, Teresa, of Filipino origin but who lives in North Carolina, has seen for the first time this year the cherry blossoms of the bureaucratic capital of the United States, which is dyed in this color at the beginning of the station.
Thousands of tourists flock to the city these days to walk alongside these trees on the National Mall, the monumental esplanade that connects the White House with Congress.
“I wanted this day to come, I made sure I didn’t have a job today,” Teresa tells EFE, accompanied by her daughter, dressed to match. They planned this trip with the sole purpose of seeing them, something that she, she admits, is already part of her “memories”.
The flowering of these trees lasts just two weeks, and their history dates back to 1912, when the then mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, gave 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, to honor the friendship between the United States and Japan.
Annie, from New York, confesses to EFE that she bought her skirt “specifically for this visit”, along with her friends from China, who will spend only one day in the capital for this reason. “This morning, we have dressed up and made up; and we have come here, ”says Annie, in order to immortalize the moment with her best clothes.
This annual event is also special for Washingtonians. Maureen has been going to the Mall to see the cherry trees for 24 years, because it is “one of her favorite things about living in the city” and, with her pink hat, she encourages attendees to come several times, since the trees change colors. color throughout this fortnight.
Something that David Coleman has been portraying for two decades. Coleman is a professional photographer who started the “Cherry Blossom Watch” in 2010, a personal blog with almost daily entries on the progress of the flowering process.
His readers sometimes write to ask for places and times to capture the best images, whether they are planning to propose, fulfill one of their annual resolutions or bring joy to a sick family member with the vision of cherry blossoms, but it is a process that “it can be daunting because of the uncertainty about when they flower.”
“I’ve been able to see how much cherry blossoms mean to some people – it’s not just ‘oh, they’re pretty flowers.’ For some, they mean much more than that”, explains Coleman to EFE.
At the amateur level, visitors venture to bring their best cameras and tripods, which they place throughout the park along the Potomac River, which borders the city. Others take advantage of the lawn to have picnics or watch performances put on by the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
And when the children leave the area, they go to the National Park Service post -next to “food trucks”, terraces and even a photo booth- to ask for their “Cherry Tree Protector” badge, an initiative so that people “don’t climb the trees or mistreat them,” an agent told EFE.
More and more frequently, flowering comes earlier due to climate change. This time, it was scheduled for between March 22 and 25, although it is delayed as soon as it is advanced each year. For this reason, there are groups on social networks to find out about the weather forecast, in addition to sharing their experiences and links such as the map with the location of all the cherry trees in the city.
“I hope the rain doesn’t spoil the flowers too much”, writes one of the users in one of those Messenger groups, to which another responds that it may be better to go two days later so that the petals on the ground contribute to a better photo.
The members also give other details such as the traffic that has taken over the area these days and that delays the arrival of some to the long-awaited cherry blossom trees.
After trying to visit the place on Sunday and encountering large crowds, tourists Juan and María, from El Salvador, decided to return a few days later to “live it more closely”, but not before looking at the weather forecast.
While last year the cold and snow shortened the cherry blossom season, this 2023 seems to mark the start of good weather, although with rain in the coming days. Even so, visitors do not stay at home and dare to go for a walk with their umbrellas with cherry blossom prints.
