she is also referred to as konohama (child flower)
sakura
The Hirosaki Sakura-Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival) dates are set based on the average dates of blooming (April 4), but nature is not always cooperative, so that the cherry blossom viewing can be held from late March to early April, from early to mid April, or through late April.
It reminds of the Roman Festival of Floralia. Goddess Flora is the one that playfully coaxes the blossoms to appear on the trees and the flowers to timidly spring out of the ground. She is the Roman Goddess of Spring, sharing the soul medicine of flowers and blossoms, and her lesson is one about new beginnings and joy. Flora is the Roman Goddess of flowering plants, especially those that bear fruit. Spring, of course, is Her season, and She has elements of a Love-Goddess, with its attendant attributes of fertility, sex, and blossoming. She is quite ancient; the Sabines are said to have named a month for Her (which corresponds to our and the Roman April), and She was known among the Samnites as well as the Oscans, where She was called Flusia. She was originally the Goddess specifically of the flowering crops, such as the grain or fruit-trees, and Her function was to make the grain, vegetables and trees bloom. In later times Flora became the Goddess of all flowering plants. The Floralia of April was originally a moveable feast to coincide with the blossoming of the plants, later becoming fixed with the dedication of Her temple on the 28th (or 27th, before the calendar was reformed. Purple lupins were offered to her as a symbol of fertility.
Another birth flower for April is the sweet pea.
- Sources:
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario