Hanami cherry blossom party 2013

Helsinki, 26 degrees


Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing, but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch.

Hello Sunday. Hello summer! Helsinki has continued to enjoy the lovely summery weather and the weather forecast for next week looks promising as well! The whole city is radiant! I wanted to show you some photos I took a couple of weeks ago when I went to our local Roihuvuori Hanami cherry blossom party in Herttoniemi. Also at that time we enjoyed amazing weather, so me and my sister went to the party for a picnic. The area is known for its water tower, as well as the Japanese style garden. A funny detail is that in this district each street is named after a fairy tale, with the exception being Roihuvuori's main street (Roihuvuorentie). For example, Lumikintie is "Snow White Street" and Tuhkimotie is "Cinderella Street".

It was my first visit to this particular party even though its organized on an annual basis in Helsinki. I was positively surprised by the fact that it gathered so many people! It was wonderful to see people dressed up for the occasion in kimonos.


We even saw some cool samurai style fighting, in a friendly matter of course. I've always been fascinated with the Japanese samurai culture so I found myself as intrigued as the little girl that you see with the blue hat in the photo. I literally couldn't take my eyes off these "fighters".


The park or garden itself was beautifully lit by the breathtaking cherry trees! I truly enjoyed the flower viewing! For those of you readers who don't know, Hanami is the centuries-old practice of picnicking under a blooming cherry tree.


I find it enchanting that in Japan, cherry blossoms also symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life.


The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality. In fact, these flowers can not be found in this park anymore. I feel very lucky to have been able to see them this year!


Have you ever gone to a flower viewing? What do you think about flowery parties? Isn't it amazing how flowers affect our mood?

What's your opinion?

  1. It's "sugoi" (a Japanese word for cool/amazing) that they had a little Japanese festival. My town isn't that awesome.

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    1. Yeah, once again - Helsinki is a great place to live in and visit!

      xxx
      E

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  2. I think I haven't... but since I have a garden I get to see my flowers and trees every day anyway ;) we don't have cherry trees anymore though but the apple trees just stopped blossoming for example and strawberries are blossoming too. anyway, it looks like a really nice event, perfect for the beginning of summer.
    oh but the heat is already driving me crazy a bit... it's just too hot outside and it sucks energy out of me and makes working really hard. yes, warm weather is lovely but +30 degrees C here in my hometown, far away from the sea is quite crazy and makes me tired. I guess there's always something to whine about, haha.

    Maiken,
    Maikeni blogi - part of me

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    1. Lucky you! I would love to see your apple trees.

      xxx
      E

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  3. followed back Dear <3 these trees are amazing <3

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  4. seemed like a lot of fun!


    would you like to follow each other?
    http://only4feet9.blogspot.com

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  5. Everything looks so incredible- seems like you had a great time!

    Have an amazing week,
    Mary x

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  6. Love the creative idea of naming the areas after fairytales. The cherry blossoms look so beautiful. I fI hadn't known any better, I would've guessed that these gardens were actually in Japan. Looks like a wonderful place to relax! Thank you kindly for taking time out of your day to stop by :)

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    1. Hehe, yeah, I love that too!
      Helsinki is a wonderful place to relax!

      xxx
      E

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  7. Amazing photos dear! And the flowers are s beautiful. This is such a fun post! :)
    Do you want us to follow each other? Let me know!

    xx, Mela
    www.wearismela.com

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  8. Oh so pretty and love the cherry blossoms.
    Thanks for following me on GFC. Following you back and also on bloglovin. Hope you can follow back on bloglovin too.
    www.thoughtsofpaps.com

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  10. Lovely pics! Great blog. What about following each other?

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