1st of May
In French called 'Muguet' or Lily of the Valley in English, in France every year on the 1st of May, people buy this flower to give to someone to wish luck and happiness. It seems that the Muguet, origin from Japan, has been in Europe since the Middle-Age.
The plant of small bells has always symbolised the Spring and Celtic people were thinking that it would give luck to anyone who would have some. On the 1st of May 1561, the king Charles IX made it official after he received on this date some of those flowers as luck, he decided to give some every year to the women of the court. The tradition was born. The flower is also given as a gift of love.
For a long time was organised the 'bals du muguet' Lily of the valley's ball. It was the only one ball were the parents were forbidden to come. On that day, the girls were dressed all in white and the boys had some of those flowers at their waist coat. The Lily of the valley is also used very often in the wedding, as it is white and delicate.
posted by Angie @ 15:11
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Welcome to the blogosphere, Angie. This post is very interesting. I love hearing about these different customs.
Thank you, Clare. I love the different customs too, and I also like the different ways how people from different countries see each others, it's often quite funny and sometimes surprising !
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