Caribbean Beat — May/June 2018 (#151)

WORD OF MOUTH
Dispatches from our correspondents around the Caribbean and further afield
Shuttertong/shutterstock.com
A tale of
two flowers
On the other side of the world from T&T,
Suzanne Bhagan experiences the Japanese
cherry blossom spring festival, and remembers
the golden poui trees that bloom at home
In the Caribbean, we often take the flowers for granted. They seem to be
always there: hibiscus, bougainvillea, or frangipani blending incongruously
into the tropical landscape. I only realised how much I missed them during
the long, bleak winter months I spent teaching English in Japan.
The Japanese are obsessed with hana, or flowers. Although cherry blossoms
can be found in many temperate regions of the world, they tend to be
synonymous with the land of the rising sun. Every spring, hanami or cherry
blossom viewing becomes a national ritual, and an almost religious experience.
In almost every newspaper or website, you will find meteorological reports
tracking the sakura zensen or cherry blossom front
across the Japanese islands, starting in Okinawa to
the south and ending in Hokkaido to the north.
Hanami is an old Japanese custom that
stretches back to the Nara period (710–794),
when it was enjoyed primarily by members of
the Imperial Court. However, by the Edo period
(1603–1868), cherry blossom mania had caught
on, and it became a popular pastime for regular
Japanese people. During hanami season, locals
flock to parks, castles, and gardens and spread
giant blue tarpaulin sheets under the trees’ frothy
petals. Even when rain and wind scatter the petals
and the ground is drizzled with pink, people still
sit under the cherry trees, opening up limitededition
bento boxes for picnics and guzzling
sakura-flavoured beer.
The cherry blossom obsession runs deep in
Japanese culture and tradition, embodying the
Japanese concept of mono no aware, a gentle
acceptance of the fleeting nature of things. The
flower’s ephemeral beauty has inspired countless
haiku poems and paintings, including the popular
folk song “Sakura, Sakura”:
28 WWW.CARIBBEAN-BEAT.COM