Description
A beautifully illustrated guide to the seasonal folklore and traditions that surround plants and flowers. Have you ever wondered about the custom of kissing under the mistletoe at Christmas or the reason for the beautiful orange marigolds that garnish altars on the Día de los Muertos? What about the cultural significance of lingonberries in Sweden or the lotus in China? Around the world plants have carried deep cultural, spiritual and symbolic meaning for millennia, playing a central role in our seasonal religious and sacred practices. Author and collage artist Bethany van Rijswijk has collected here 28 plants from a range of different cultures across the northern hemisphere, exploring how they are used to mark festivities and the stories behind them. Discover the Persian mythology surrounding the damask rose and the springtime festival of Golabgiri where families gather petals by hand which are transformed into rosewater and rose oil; the Slavic tradition of creating ceremonial crowns from ferns on Kupala Night; and the enchanting story of Kiku no Sekku in Japan which celebrates the abundance of the harvest and the blooming of the autumn chrysanthemum. Organised around spring, summer, autumn and winter, the book traces plants and folklore tied to solstices, equinoxes and other seasonal festivals from across global mythology, belief, folklore and religion. Through flowering rites of spring, enchanted midsummer herbs, autumn charms and the evergreens of midwinter, Plantlore reveals how plants have continued to offer pathways for celebration and reconnection with the cycles of nature, and why they are important.