A Fond Farewell From MIE

--Susan, every other Sunday

 It's my sad duty, and honor, to write the very last post here at Murder is Everywhere.

We've had a good run, and appreciate everyone who's read and commented on this wonderful blog for so many years - but, like everything else in the world, all good things must come to . . .

APRIL FOOL.

(My apologies to my blog brothers and sisters, with whom I did not share this joke in advance - but at the risk of their wrath, it had to be done. It was that or an Easter-based April Fool that would have gotten me in much hotter water with an even bigger brother . . .)

This is NOT the last post (though it might be mine, if the joke went over badly enough!) - but it is a farewell of sorts . . . to the sakura (cherry blossom) season in Japan, which began about two weeks ago, and has just about ended for another year.

They bloom and die so quickly. Just like us. (Photo credit: Xyrenth)

In light of which, I thought I'd blog about a traditional Japanese custom: hanami, or "flower viewing,"   the practice of enjoying the fleeting beauty of flowers.

The Tokyo Skytree rises above the blossoms (Credit: Xyrenth)

A note: the photos in this post are not mine. They were taken last week by a friend of my son's who goes by the online handle Xyrenth and gave me permission to use them. 

Although hanami is possible with any flowers, the term is most commonly used for the viewing parties that take place at cherry blossom season, to appreciate the brief period when sakura are at their peak.

Sakura in Tokyo (Credit: Xyrenth)

Cherry blossoms last only a couple of days, and fall from the tree at the height of their lovely blooms.

Blossoms in the hand -worth two on the tree? (Credit: Xyrenth)

People flock to parks, rivers, and other places to see the blossoms. Often, they take picnics and set out their blankets under the blooming trees. Sometimes, people take musical instruments and games as well as food, and make a day of it - as my son and his friends did last week.

Hanami parties at a Tokyo park. (credit: Xyrenth)

Japan's cuisine is highly seasonal, and sakura is a common flavoring element in spring desserts. Big producers like Haagen Dazs get in on the action:

Sakura mochi flavor - cherry blossom mochi (pounded rice cake) over vanilla ice cream. (credit: Xyrenth)

As do local and specialty confectioners:

Another sakura mochi ... without ice cream. (credit: Xyrenth)

In fact, there's a Japanese proverb: hana yori dango (花より団子) which translates "dango (a type of pounded mochi dumpling) rather than flowers" which suggests people now prefer the tasty seasonal treats to the flowers. However, I think the two are inseparable - without the flowers, there would be no reason for either the parties or the treats!

Sakura blossoms against the sky. (credit: Xyrenth)

The custom of hanami, and flower viewing parties, dates to the 8th century, when members of the Japanese court and the noble classes often composed poems inspired by and dedicated to lovely blossoms - except that the blossoms appreciated during those earliest hanami parties were ume (plum), not cherry.

During the century that followed, however, sakura replaced ume as the blossoms of choice for hanami, to the point that the term is now almost exclusively used for sakura viewing.

Parks filled with blossoming cherry trees. (credit: Xyrenth)

It took several centuries for the custom to spread to the common classes, but by the end of the Edo period (1603-1868), if not before, the springtime custom of hanami parties - complete with music, food, and plenty of beautiful, blossoming trees - had become firmly a part of Japanese culture.

Hanami can continue into the night - in many parks the trees are illuminated to better show the blooms. (credit: Xyrenth)

The tradition shows no signs of fading. If anything, the parties have become larger, with foreign tourists and Japanese people of every age flooding into the parks and along the riverbanks during the brief sakura season, to enjoy the food and festival atmosphere that surrounds the lovely blooms.

And now you know a little more about hanami.

Have any interest in hanging out under the cherry trees next spring? I know I do!