Easter celebrates new beginnings & resurrection as the weather becomes warmer and shakes off its winter coat, arriving with new buds, delicate blossom and an unrivalled trumpeting of greenery.
Easter is full of many customs commandeered from Christianity and the ancient world. Its religious origin finds representation in Christian imagery, while most of us are familiar with eggs ( a sign of rebirth) and bunnies (a sign of fertility) that come to us from the spring festivals of antiquity. Nonetheless, a universal thread connects these symbols – they all represent new life. With their luminous, fragile petals and young buds, it’s no surprise Easter flowers are seen as fitting emblems for this time of year.
The most traditional floral symbol of Easter is the white lily, an ancient embodiment of the Resurrection and today evoking images of purity, hope and new life
Bright bushels of tulips symbolize friendship, trust and joy, whilst daisies bring meanings of innocence and joy.
And on everyone’s list of Spring flowers are daffodils (daffadowndilly, narcissus, and jonquil), the glory of springtime.
These flowers deck churches, homes and tables across the country during the celebration
Here at Flowers from Holland we’ve DCUK ducks, Easter gifts and decoration, teddy bears, Easter trees and of course all your favourite spring flowers
We’re busy preparing for the holiday since we closed our books on Mother’s Day: The shop is now teeming with tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, azaleas and of course Easter Lilies, Longiflorums – available in store in traditional white with a fabulous pink trumpet. We’ve also Easter bouquets in a choice of colours and deliveries available on Saturday before Easter Sunday.
So here’s a reminder of some of our traditions at Easter – past and present
- Easter was once a traditional day for getting married, that may be why people often dress up for Easter. Women would make and wear special Easter bonnets – decorated with flowers and ribbons. Even today there are special Easter Parade, especially in schools, where hand-made bonnets are shown off.
- Hot Cross Buns: An old rhyme was often sung by children awaiting their sugary treat: “Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns. If you do not like them, give them to your sons, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.”
- Simnel cake – decorated with eleven almond paste balls for the disciples – the one missing is for Judas who is not commemorated
- The German tradition of decorating trees and bushes with Easter eggs is known as the Ostereierbaum, or Easter egg tree. The traditional “trees” were branches in a vase hung with brightly colored eggs. Today many homes hang the painted or dyed Easter eggs and other decorations on real trees in their front yards to add a colorful touch and a festive spirit to the whole neighborhood. We’ve some of our own in the shop – large and small displays.
- On Easter Sunday it WAS (thankfully this has died out) a common custom, for a number of boys to assemble in the afternoon, and as soon as the clock struck four, hit the streets in parties, and accost every female they happened to meet, with “pay for your shoes if you please,” at the same time, stopping to take them off; which, if they did, and did not immediately get a penny or twopence, they actually carried them off. Often the boys collected, at least, a dozen odd shoes; but generally, something was given, which in the evening they either spent in public houses!
As we said at the beginning – Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s Party’
Flowers from Holland 