Human Flower Project
Religious Rituals
Santiago, MEXICO
Cairo, EGYPT
Austin, Texas USA
Friday, April 02, 2010
Orthodox and Floral: Good Friday
In contrast with Roman Catholic and most Protestant churches, the Eastern Orthodox sects do not shun flowers on Good Friday: lemon flowers in Crete, floral biers in New Jersey, daffodils in Bulgaria, and more.
A dome-shaped Epitaphion for Good Friday,
St. Nicholas Church, Brixton, South Africa
Photo: Khanya
In the Episcopal Church, and many others, this is the most flowerless day of the year: Good Friday.
A guide to Roman Catholic sacristans for Maundy Thursday could be followed (with other names for “Mass”) by many Protestant denominations also. “Be prepared for the stripping of the altar after Mass,” writes Paul Turner. “Remove flowers, candles, altar cloth and any other decorations. This should be done quietly and reverently.”
Another liturgical handbook conveys the same message, just slightly different timing. “All decorations come down Friday morning. Cross is bare.”
Christian tradition says that Jesus was crucified at noon, and died three hours later.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Flor de Pita, for Lent
During the penitential season of Lent, the yucca of South Texas bloom; their blossoms are a traditional food of early spring.
Spanish bayonet (Yucca aloifoli)
Fayette County, TX
March 13, 2010
Photo: Human Flower Project
Five and more years ago, when we were digging with special dirt-sailing tenacity for specifically Texan flower customs, we heard tell that in some parts of the state yucca flowers were eaten. But where, by whom, when, why, how? Finally last weekend, the mystery popped.
Cristina Balli, program director of Texas Folklife, and her associate Michelle Mejía, had toodled us down to Schulenburg for youth accordion auditions at the Sengelmann Hall. As we talked (waiting for squeezers to show up), Cristina recalled, “My mom used to cook flor de pita” – yucca—“and right around this time, during Lent.”
Cristina said that her mother, Antonia H. Balli, learned how to make yucca blooms into a meal from her own mother, Quirina Cruz de Hinojosa. Quirina grew up in Jalisco but after moving to Northern Mexico encountered Yucca aloifolia, which grows abundantly on both sides of the border near Matamoros/Brownsville.
Just as the dramatic plant blooms, in early spring, practicing Catholics are looking for meatless foods in observance of Lent. The luscious white and purple flowers, blooming throughout the brushy “monte” of the region, make a fine seasonal dish. One web source we’ve found claims that yucca flowers “have a clean, mild taste somewhat reminiscent of snow peas.” Cristina’s word is “bitter.” She calls flor de pita “an acquired taste.” (The same might be said for penance.)
As we drove prattling back up Highway 77 toward La Grange, Cristina jammed on the breaks just north of the St. Mary’s turnoff. Here was a stupendous stand of yucca in full bloom.
(We’re fairly sure this is Yucca aloifoli, known in Anglo Texas a Spanish bayonet; Spanish dagger, Yucca Gloriosa is lots more common around Austin.)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A Feel for the Real and the Artificial
When are artificial flowers in order, and when will only real blossoms do? Sandy Ao comes upon floral irony in Kolkata’s New Market.
A shop of artificial flowers, the only one amid many
flower stalls at Kolkata’s New Market
Photo: Sandy Ao
How do you feel about artificial flowers? Maybe these other terms—“silk” “faux” “plastic” “handmade” “fake” – would color your answer.
A couple of weeks ago, we visited Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen, Texas, a beautiful Spanish style home and surrounding patios, gardens, and estate that are now an international gathering place for birders. On a sideboard in the livingroom stood a huge arrangement of lilies and what looked like proteas flowers. “Are these real!?” we yelped – and were told quietly, no.
There’s always a sheepish, sunken feeling then, at least for us. We tend to look away, as if after all there had been nothing to admire. What is that? Is it having been duped?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Chitra Pothi Lives On
Illuminated letters or temple decorations? Palm leaf painting dates back to medieval India and survives among artisans in a few small villages of Orissa.
An artisan demonstrated palm leaf painting at a Kolkata fair, Dec. 2009
Photo: Sandy Ao
Back before there were computer screens to write on, there was this stuff called paper, made from plant material. It’s true.
And back before digital cameras and Photoshop, there was an image making process called painting. It, too, involved plant materials: bloodroot and indigo for pigments, cotton, papyrus, and linen for canvases—or in the case of Chitra Pothi of India, leaves of palm.
Sandy Ao, long an admirer of this vernacular art form, made an exciting discovery last month at Kolkata’s New Market after many years of looking.
“I simply love these palm leaf paintings, Chitra Pothi or Talapatrachitra,” she writes. “I was given a palm leaf painting by my Greek friend ~ Hara Papadoniou Gupta’s husband. That was way back in 1972.”