India’s first Cherry Blossom Festival to be Celebrated in Shillong

Meghalaya became the first state in the country to start a Cherry Blossom Festival, which is widely celebrated in Japan. The four day festival in Meghalaya will be celebrated between 14-17 November. With the blooming of cherry blossoms, Shillong and the entire East Khasi Hills have turned into pink in this November. This event has been organised in partnership with Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), which is a national institute of the Centre’s Department of Biotechnology.

Other countries

The Cherry Blossom Festival is popularly known as Sakura Festival in Japan. In Japan, it usually takes place in the month of April every year. Australia, Korea, china, and the US are the other countries in which the Cherry Blossom festival is celebrated.

Cherry Blossom

Prunus cerasoides, or the Wild Himalayan cherry tree, blooms every year in India during the autumn season. It has different blooming season when compared with its cousins in Japan and Korea, which blooms during the spring season. Prunus cerasoides is native to the Himalayan region and grows abundantly in Shillong, and thereby covers the rolling green hills with shades of pink and white. In 1980s big scale plantation of the species was undertaken by the forest department for aesthetic reasons.

Significance

• The festival will help to portray Meghalaya as a global tourist destination and to showcase its traditional arts, culture and cuisine to the tourists. Interestingly, 2017 has been declared by UN as International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
• It will help to create positive impact on the local economy. For instance, the Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival alone generates a revenue of $126 million every year from the tourists and visitors of the festival. Apart from bringing socio-economic development, it will also promote peace, prosperity and sustainable development in the region.