Clare Florist Blog

Bouquet and Easter egg winner

Congratulations  - At 2pm today a winner was randomly chosen from all the orders that Clare Florist are delivering throughout the UK this week.
The lucky winner was Mr Collins in Surrey, who having ordered our classic "Boho Chic " bouquet also won a luxury Chocolate Easter egg from Thorntons containing more than 1Kg of chocolate as well as a "Happy Easter" bouquet for himself.

Congratulations again to Mr Collins, we hope that he and everyone who has bouquets from Clare Florist all have a wonderful Easter.

Has Easter Lost it's Roots? and what does it mean to the modern World?

I have already touched upon some of the many activities and symbolisms traditionally associated with Easter in this blog.  But to what extent are they significant today?  I have also previously mentioned the way in which much of Easter celebrations revolve around symbols of fertility and birth - and many of these symbols are still associated with Easter today - such as the Easter Bunny.  But most of the people whom I asked were surprised about the connection between the Easter Bunny being representative of new birth and fertility.

So, it may seem that we have kept the "fun" parts of Easter and forgot about the seriousness and meanings behind what we are doing.  We may give (and eat!) chocolate easter eggs at Easter - but do we think when we are doing this - that we are celebrating what the egg traditionally symbolises - new life and everything associated with it.

If you are interested in the question I have posed at the top, please watch out over the next couple of days, as I have been surveying people to ask them what word they most associate with Easter.  I will also have a variety of quotes from people young to old on what Easter means for them.

Posted for Viki by Bob

The origins of Easter, the Easter bunny and Easter Eggs

The Origins of Easter

Easter is thought of as being a traditionally Christian festival, but it in fact evolved from pagan roots.  The name “Easter” comes from the pagan Goddess of fertility “Eostre” and was a celebration of spring and of birth. These themes are a recurrent factor in most of the activities, rituals and celebrations that take part at Easter – as you will notice.

One of the many reasons that the lily is associated with Easter is that its shape was thought to resemble reproductive organs – which is one example of this theme of birth and new beginnings. Other possibly reasons for it being the flower for “Easter” include a legendary tale with the lily being the droplets of sweat that fell from Jesus during his crucifixion, and another that the flower bloomed at the spot where his blood fell.

There are so many traditions associated with Easter, it is difficult to go into them all, but I will begin with possibly 2 of the most popular!

The origins of the Easter Bunny (or Rabbit)

Probably not many people realise that this is in fact a continuance of what I discussed above, as the Easter Bunny was originally a symbol of fertility. It was said to lay eggs of bright colours (which no doubt is what has now become the “Easter Bunny” bringing chocolate eggs to children for Easter!).

The “rabbit” probably started off traditionally as a “hare”, but due to the rabbit being more common in the western world, this changed to being the bunny that we now know. There is a tradition in the UK of adults hiding eggs in the garden left by the “Easter Bunny” which children then hunt for (the eggs referred to being of the chocolate variety rather than the chicken laying variety!) - often having contests to see who can collect the most eggs in their basket.

The origin of Easter Eggs

The Easter egg connection can be introduced with its obvious relevance to the Easter Bunny above. This connection with Easter dates back even pre-Christianity when real eggs were used – them also being a symbol of birth and new life.

There are many activities associated with eggs at Easter. These include hard-boiling eggs and rolling them down a hill in a competition to see whose egg gets to the bottom first/goes the furthest etc. without breaking. Hard-boiled eggs were (and still are) decorated by children, often taking part in competitions with a prize given for the best decorated egg. Other, possibly more regional activities include a game similar to conkers where an egg is held in the palm of ones hand and bashed against that of an opponents' to see which cracks first.

Watch out for more on this blog about Easter traditions, including a poll on what people now associate most with Easter.

April Traditions

There is some uncertainty over where the name “April” came from, but one theory is that it evolved from the Latin festival word “aperire” meaning “to open”. This is quite possibly due to all the new flowers growing and buds opening again after the cold winter months.

The traditional flower for April is the Sweet Pea. The sweet pea is said to have been first cross-bred in Wem, Shropshire by Henry Eckford in 1887 (for more on Eckford's contribution to the world of horticulture, and the sweet pea itself - please see here. The Wem website boasts that it is “home of the modern sweet pea”, and even has an annual Wem Sweet Pea Festival.

Eckford is noted by many as having revolutionised the sweet pea, with his cross-breeding he made sweet peas into the larger flower we know today, with a variety of colour formations. However, the actual origins of the sweet pea (although disputed) do go back much further than Eckford's cross-breeding in 1887. The first written record of them appears to be when a member of the order of St. Francis (Francisco Cupani) wrote of seeing them in Sicily in 1695. Still to this day, there is a variety available known as the Cupani, with purple upper and deep blue winged under petals. (Pictured here)

The Diamond is the gemstone for April, and thus is the birthstone for those born in this month. It is a traditional gift for those born in this month to receive a piece of jewellery containing a diamond (although I think women born in any month would appreciate this equally!) It is considered good luck to wear your birthstone, and the “luck” which the diamond is said to bring includes: good luck with relationships and increased inner strength.

April Fools Day

You will probably have seen or be aware of the spaghetti tree hoax made by the BBC in 1957 for April Fools Day, this was when the Panorama programme ran an article filming a family taking part in their annual "spaghetti harvest", where women were seeing carefully lifting strands of spaghetti from their "spaghetti tree". 

It is customary on 1st April for tricks to be played amongst family and friends - but only until 12:00 noon.  The more imaginative the better, as people are likely to be more "On their guard" on this day.

There appears to be no clear evidence for when the custom actually began, although there are a couple of theories.  One of these is that prior to the Gregorian calendar (the one which we use today), which was introduced in 1582 (although Britain did not accept it until 1752), New Year was celebrated from 25 March - 1 April.  In France some people would forget and celebrate New Year on 1 April which lead to them being called "April Fools" and people playing tricks on them.

Anyway, did I tell you about our new line of robotic flowers at Clare's?  Their pots are on wheels, while they use their leaves as arms and can do just about anything you ask of them - cooking cleaning, ironing - you name it!  email lsooflirpa@didyoureallybelievethat.com for further details.