WELCOME TO An Entertainment Site for Scottish Country Dancers - Enjoy the curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Cherry Blossom Festivals
Mar 24
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
“What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms.”
~ Poems, Kobayashi Issa (1763-1868)
Dancers everywhere are looking for signs of spring including the early blooming of cherry trees! Until then, invoke some blooming with this lively jig devised by John Drewry with its beautiful petal like first figures and swirling of a falling blossom reels for a beautiful finish!
Although now planted everywhere for their great beauty, Japan is renowned for its extensive variety of cherry trees, boasting over 600 species. Some produce fruit, while others are cultivated solely for their blossoms. Many cherry blossoms transition in color during their blooming phases—from dark pink to light pink to white—while certain varieties shift from greenish-yellow to white to pink. Notably, the 'Kanzan' variety features "double blossoms," with each flower having up to 28 petals. In 2018, LEGOLAND Japan in Nagoya set a Guinness World Record by constructing the largest LEGO brick cherry blossom tree, standing 14 feet tall, weighing over 7,000 pounds, and comprising more than 800,000 LEGO bricks! 💗 💙 💚 💗 🌸 🌸 🌸
Cherry Blossom Time
Mid to late march begins the season of blossom viewing (Hanami) around the world, and the blooming of the cherry trees is the most highly anticipated.
Most wild trees, but also a lot of cultivated tree varieties, have blossoms with five petals. However, some species have blossoms which consist of ten, twenty or more petals. Trees with blossoms of more than five petals are called yaezakura in Japan.
Most varieties produce light pink to white blossoms, but there are also cherry trees with dark pink, yellow or green blossoms. Furthermore, the color of some varieties' cherry blossoms may change while they are in bloom. For example, a blossom may open as a white flower and change color to pink over the course of a few days.
For the best places around the world for a dazzling display, including The Meadows in Edinburgh (pictured above), click the multi-colored cherry trees.
And for a video of the dance from the Cologne Ball at the Brauweiler Abbey in 2012, see below.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
