Author: Kirkby, Mandy

Brand: Ballantine Books

Color: Multicolor

Edition: Illustrated

Binding: Hardcover

Format: Illustrated

Number Of Pages: 187

Release Date: 20-09-2011

Details: Product Description “A flower is not a flower alone; a thousand thoughts invest it.” Daffodils signal new beginnings, daisies innocence. Lilacs mean the first emotions of love, periwinkles tender recollection. Early Victorians used flowers as a way to express their feelings—love or grief, jealousy or devotion. Now, modern-day romantics are enjoying a resurgence of this bygone custom, and this book will share the historical, literary, and cultural significance of flowers with a whole new generation. With lavish illustrations, a dual dictionary of flora and meanings, and suggestions for creating expressive arrangements, this keepsake is the perfect compendium for everyone who has ever given or received a bouquet. About the Author Mandy Kirkby is an editor and a flower enthusiast. She lives in Cambridge, England. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. FOREWORD   Flowers do speak a language, clear and intelligible. Observe them, reader, love them, linger over them and ask your own heart if they do not speak affection, benevolence and piety.   In every culture and throughout time, flowers have been central to the human experience. Whether growing wild or in carefully tended gardens, blooming in works of art or written into the pages of great literature, flowers have always surrounded and supported us. They appear in our most significant rituals and traditions all around the globe: from east to west; from ancient civilization to the present day; when we hope or pray, love or mourn; we do it with flowers in our hands.   But why do flowers play such a significant role in our lives? What mystery do they represent and reveal? And how does our deep connection to flowers show itself? In every season and in every country, the answers to these questions are different.   In the Indian state of Uttarakhand, where the Ganga River drops out of the Himalayas and into the valley, a ceremony takes place every evening at sunset. While prayers buzz through a crackling PA system, pilgrims to the holy site of Har Ki Pauri (Steps of the Lord) fill banana-leaf boats with flowers – roses, orchids, tulsi and marigolds – then place a lit candle among the petals and float the fragrant bundle down the river with a hope, a prayer or a wish.   Across the globe from the Ganga River, in Mexico and through-out Latin America, cempasuchil – bright orange marigolds – grow. Cempasuchil, the flower the Aztecs used to remember the deceased, is cultivated in preparation for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Families plant seeds and tend their gardens, thinking of the loved ones they have lost as they watch the marigolds sprout, grow and finally blossom. The brilliant orange flowers are believed to help guide the souls of loved ones home, and for a single day the Mexican people find comfort in having the spirits of their loved ones with them once again.   Every spring in Japan, citizens listen to the weather bureau forecast the Sakura Zensen (the cherry blossom front). At the height of the blossom, Hanami (flower viewing) festivals take place all across the country, with friends and family gathering for tea or lunch under the pink canopies. Festivities often go well into the night, with music and paper lanterns illuminating the trees. While the celebrations are joyful, they are brief: cherry trees are in full bloom for two weeks at the most. The perfect, delicate flowers have come to represent the essence of life itself – shockingly beautiful and heartbreakingly fleeting.   In France on May Day, there is a similar focus on a single flower: lily of the valley. This delicate white flower, which grows as a row of bell-shaped blossoms nestled in long green leaves, is often referred to as porte-bonheur – literally, ‘bringer of happiness’. Every street corner overflows with the flower: florists have huge outdoor displays of the plant; people come in from the countryside to sell plants they’ve grown in their garden or harvested i

Package Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches

Languages: English