Eastern Orthodox Flowers for the Feast of the Transfiguration

 Today, August 6, is the Feast of the Transfiguration.  In the Eastern Orthodox church it is a very important feast day. Typical decorations are icons embellished with garlands of flowers and maybe fruit.  Here is an example from a Facebook page.

Blessing of Flowers for the Feast of the Assumption

 From Vultus Christi:

"Christians of both East and West have, from very early times, blessed herbs and fruit on the Feast of the Assumption. Thus blessed, these creatures become sacramentals of the Church and portents of divine protection from dangers to soul and body. In some places the herbs were placed on the altar, and even beneath the altar linens, so that from this proximity to the Most Holy Eucharist they might receive a special hallowing, beyond that conferred by the blessing prayers of the Church.
The prayers of the rite suggest that this custom of the Church hearkens back to the ancient customs ordained by God through Moses. According to Christian tradition, when the Apostles accompanied Saint Thomas, who had been absent at the time of the Blessed Virgin’s death, to her tomb, upon opening it they discovered that her body was not there. Instead, they found the tomb filled with fragrant herbs and flowers. Blessed herbs recall the lingering fragrance of the virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church."


Image:  Assunta by Bartolmeo della Gatta (ca. 1475) from Wikimedia Commons.

Assumption Day and Our Lady's Bower

Upcoming on August 15 is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrating the day Our Lord took Our Lady to heaven.

According to the flower calendar in the Collectanea of Vincent Stuckey Lean (1820-1899), the blossoms of a certain plant fall around Assumption Day:

"When Mary left us here below,
The Virgin's Bower begins to blow."

The plant V.S. Lean is referring to is Clematis vitalba, known in Catholic horticulture as "Virgin's Bower" or "Our Lady's Bower".

Clematis vitalba is a member of the ranunculus family. It is a climbing vine with medium green leaves shaped like elongated hearts. The plant grows vigorously and forms a canopy or thicket. It blooms during the summer with starry white blossoms. When the blossoms fall, they leave greenish seed heads. As the seed heads ripen, tufts of wispy, silver fibers emerge. The seed heads and fibers are lovely in winter.

The idea is that the canopy the plant makes is a bedchamber for Our Blessed Mother.  When she is taken up to heaven, she no longer needs the canopy so the blossoms fall and blow away.

One can learn more about the plant here.

Image:
Clematis vitalba, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.