The Cherry Blossom
Cherry blossoms, called “sakura” in Japan, are the beautiful flowers which bloom on flowering cherry trees. The flowering cherry tree blooms once a year in the spring, giving on-lookers a majestic, but short, display of beauty, with blooms lasting only a week or two. Cherry blossom trees have both a great history and a rich symbolism and have played an important and influential role in Japanese culture and tradition for hundreds of years. For the Japanese, the cherry blossom is a symbol of the great beauty and fragility of life. Flowering cherry trees first arrived in our country in 1912 as a gift from the People of Japan to the People of the United States and were planted in Washington, D.C. Today, the stunning trees continue to grace our nation’s capital and an annual festival, the Cherry Blossom Festival, is held there each year when the sakura bloom.
Because of its great beauty and fragility and its many parallels to the female gift of fertility, the Cherry Blossom Buds Program has adopted the Cherry Blossom as our symbol. . .
Each spring, the flowering cherry tree bursts into full bloom, lending the world an ephemeral show of unsurpassing beauty, a reminder of how precious and fragile life is. Like the cherry blossom, a woman’s fertility is a priceless gift, one of unsurpassing beauty, a gift that deserves to be respected, reverenced, cherished, and protected.
The flowering cherry tree stays in bloom for only a week or two. Like the flowering cherry, a woman with typical cycles stays in the fertile time for only a week or two.
The flowering cherry tree lives for only 30 to 40 years. Like the flowering cherry, a woman is in the bloom of her fertility for only 30 to 40 years.
and finally,
Just as the cherry blossom is a reminder of how precious and fragile life is, so too, the fertile woman is a constant reminder of how precious and fragile new life is—life within her womb–the fruit of her fertility.
Your daughter is on a beautiful journey-the journey toward womanhood. She is like the cherry blossom bud, waiting to bloom, her great beauty hidden inside. When she blooms, her beauty too will be revealed to the world. The goal of The Cherry Blossom Buds Program is to help your daughter see that she has been given both a great gift and a great responsibility, a gift that deserves to be respected, reverenced, cherished, and protected. Cherish always the gift of your fertility.