Flowers
In some countries, certain flowers (such as chrysanthemums) are given only at funerals. In France, red roses are given when someone is in love. In Finland, the same applies except that school leavers are often given red roses on passing their matriculation examination (abitur). Yellow flowers are inappropriate at weddings in Ukraine and Russia as they are viewed as a sign that the bride or groom are unfaithful to one another. In Victorian Britain, an elaborate system of language of flowers developed.
Read more about this topic: Etiquette In Europe
Famous quotes containing the word flowers:
“The true gardener then brushes over the ground with slow and gentle hand, to liberate a space for breath round some favourite; but he is not thinking about destruction except incidentally. It is only the amateur like myself who becomes obsessed and rejoices with a sadistic pleasure in weeds that are big and bad enough to pull, and at last, almost forgetting the flowers altogether, turns into a Reformer.”
—Freya Stark (1893–1993)
“My father used to say,
“Superior people never make long visits,
have to be shown Longfellow’s grave
or the glass flowers at Harvard.””
—Marianne Moore (1887–1972)
“But neither milk-white rose nor red
May bloom in prison air;
The shard, the pebble, and the flint,
Are what they give us there:
For flowers have been known to heal
A common man’s despair.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)