Cherry Blossoms Bloom Around the World

To see more cherry blossoms in bloom visit San Francisco’s Japantown, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Kyoto’s Maruyama Park (円山公園) and Tokyo’s Chidorigafuchi (千鳥ヶ淵).

Cherry blossoms are tiny pink and white flowers that bloom en masse and grow from the branches of the Japanese Cherry tree. As many cities around the world celebrate with festivals, picnics under the sakura and flower-viewing parties, Instagrammers around the world are capturing beautiful photographs of the short-lived blossoms.

Celebrating I.M. Pei’s 96th Birthday

Today, famed architect I.M. Pei turns 96. Born in Guangzhou, China, Pei came to the United States in 1935 to pursue higher education. He graduated from MIT with his Bachelors in Architecture in 1940 and from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design in 1946.

Pei’s work is distinctly modernist with cubist tones and often features distinctive sweeping reflective glass facades. He is perhaps best known for the glass and steel pyramid at the Museé du Louvre in Paris, France—a controversial project completed in 1989 that has since become one of the most iconic modern buildings in France.

For more photos from I.M. Pei’s greatest works, check out their location pages below:

• Pyramide du Louvre - Paris, France
• John F. Kennedy Library Presidential Library and Museum - Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Luce Memorial Chapel (路思義教堂) - Tunghai, Taiwan
• Bank of China Tower (中銀大廈) - Hong Kong
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum - Cleveland, Ohio, USA
• Suzhou Museum (苏州博物馆)- Suzhou, China
• 5th Avenue Apple Store - New York City, New York, USA
• Miho Museum - Kyoto, Japan
• Fountain Place - Dallas, Texas, USA

Cosmonautics Day (День Космона́втики) in Russia

For more photos from the Cosmonautics Day festivities, check out the location pages for the Памятник Гагарину (Yuri Gargarin Monument) and аллея Космонавтов (Cosmonauts Alley)

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completed the first manned space flight. The 27-year-old circled Earth in the Vostok 1 (Восток-1) spacecraft for one hour and 48 minutes, marking the opening of a new chapter in space exploration.

Now, Russia celebrates this achievement with Cosmonautics Day, in which ceremony participants process through a series of important commemorative landmarks. It begins near Gagarin’s statue in the city of Korolyov, moves to his grave in the Red Square’s Kremlin Wall Necropolis and continues through Cosmonauts Alley before concluding in Novodevichy Cemetery.

In the last decade, April 12 has also become the occasion to host “Yuri’s Night” worldwide as an occasion to inspire public interest in space exploration. As of 2011, the United Nations also adopted a resolution declaring April 12 to be the International Day of Human Space Flight.

The 48th Academy of Country Music Awards

For more content from the ACM Awards, follow @ACMawards and check out the #ACMs hashtag.

Wish you had front-row seats to tonight’s Academy of Country Music Awards (@ACMawards)? The show starts tonight at 8 PM PST, but you can follow your favorite stars down the red carpet and through the event on Instagram. Be sure to follow these nominees and performers to get up close and personal during the show.

• Carrie Underwood, nominee — @carrieunderwood
• Eli Young Band, nominee — @eliyoungband
• Kacey Musgraves, nominee — @spaceykacey
• Little Big Town, nominee — @littlebigtown
• Love and Theft, nominee — @loveandtheftmusic

You can also browse live content during the show by exploring the Las Vegas location page for the awards here.

March Madness’s Final Teams Compete

Watching from home? Share your viewing party photos with #marchmadness!

After a week and a half of grueling competition, the pool of 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament has been whittled down to just eight teams on the men’s side and 16 on the women’s.

Tonight, the first of the men’s “Elite 8” and women’s “Sweet 16” teams will compete for the right to advance. For the men, the winning teams will earn a trip to the pinnacle of college basketball, the Final Four, which will be hosted in Atlanta this year. For the women, the winners of today’s Sweet 16 will become the Elite 8 and be one step closer to their Final Four in New Orleans.

To get a behind-the-scenes peek at the final games on Instagram, be sure to follow these participating players, teams, and broadcasters:

Players:

• Trey Burke, Michigan Men’s Basketball — @tr3yburke
• Mason Plumlee, Duke Men’s Basketball — @masonplumlee
• Russ Smith, Louisville Men’s Basketball — @im_basedking
• Davante Gardner, Marquette Men’s Basketball — @davantegardner
• Bria Hartley, Connecticut Women’s Basketball — @breezyyy14
• Chiney Ogwumike, Stanford Women’s Basketball — @chiney321
• Brittney Griner, Baylor Women’s Basketball — @brittney4griner
• Skylar Diggins, Notre Dame Women’s Basketball — @skydigg4

Teams and Schools:

• Ohio State Men’s Basketball — @ohiostatehoops
• Wichita State Athletics — @shocker_athletics
• Notre Dame Women’s Basketball — @ndwbb
• University of Tennessee Women’s Basketball — @ladyvol_hoops
• Duke Women’s Basketball — @dukewbb

Media:

• ESPN, Sports Television Channel — @espn
• Bill Simmons, Sports Columnist — @sptguy33
• Dick Vitale, Basketball Sportscaster — @dickiev_espn

You can also browse photos from the arenas where the final games will be held. The men’s Final Four will be at the Georgia Dome (@georgiadome) and the women’s will be at the New Orleans Arena.

The World Celebrates Holi

Want to see more photos of Holi? Visit the hashtags #holi and #holi2013.

Today Hindus everywhere celebrated Holi, an annual festival of colors held at the end of winter. In temples, the faithful prayed as colored powder and jets of colored water were sprayed upon them. Thousands of white-clothed revelers in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal took to the streets to throw bright powders and perfumes at each other, and many captured the celebrations on Instagram.

International Women’s Day 2013

Today, men and women around the world will celebrate International Women’s Day. Since the early 1900s people have used the annual holiday as an opportunity to celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements. In honor of this, we’re recognizing several exceptional women that utilize Instagram to document their incredible stories of talent, triumph and humanitarianism:

• Bethany Hamilton (@bethanyhamilton) — Known for surviving a shark attack that left her without one arm, she overcame the injury to become a professional surfer.
• Yoko Ono (@yokoonoofficial)— A Japanese artist, peace activist and feminist, also known for her philanthropic contributions to the arts, peace and AIDS outreach programs.
• Gabrielle “Gabby” Douglas (@gabbydoug2012) — Making history in the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals in both the individual and team all-around competitions, becoming the first black woman of any nationality to do so.
• Padma Lakshmi (@padmalakshmi) — The first internationally successful Indian supermodel, she is now the host of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” an award-winning author of two cookbooks, and the co-founder of a nonprofit organization focused on increasing awareness, education and research about endometriosis.

For more incredible women sharing their stories on Instagram, be sure to follow Oprah Winfrey (@oprah), Sheryl Sandberg (@sherylsandberg), Sofia Vergara (@sofiavergara), Diane von Furstenberg (@dvf) Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling), Ellen DeGeneres (@theellenshow) and Shakira (@itsshakira)!

Pope Benedict XVI’s Final General Audience

For more photos from the Pope’s final general audience, visit the Basilica di San Pietro and Piazza di San Pietro location pages.

Tens of thousands gathered today in Vatican City’s Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter’s Square) to bid farewell to Pope Benedict XVI as he gave his final general audience. He was escorted through the crowd in his open-sided Popemobile to greet attendees before ascending to the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to present his final address. The pope announced his resignation two weeks ago, citing poor health as the reason for leaving the papal office. Pope Benedict XVI is the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.

The pope will officially leave office tomorrow, leaving the papacy vacant until the cardinals emerge from the sequestered election process known as conclave to announce who has been selected as the 266th pope.

Photos from Seattle’s World-Record-Setting Snowball Fight

Want to see more photos from Seattle’s epic snow battle? Browse the #SeattleSnowDay hashtag, and the @SeattleSnowDay & @REI Instagram feeds!

On January 12th, over 5,800 people turned out for a snowball fight at the base of the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. The official count of 5,834 participants was enough to set a new Guinness World Record, topping the previous record of 5,347 set on January 22, 2010, in Taebaek City, South Korea.

The event was carefully planned to ensure an accurate count, utilizing barcoded wristbands that were scanned anytime someone entered and left the battle area.

After viewing photos from the official @SeattleSnowDay Instagram account, be sure to check out this great footage of the snowball fight as well.