Floral blessings enrich our lives: Religious holidays in April celebrate with colorful flowers
William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 21 proclaims:
“With sun and moon, with earth and sea’s rich gems, With April’s first-born flowers, and all things rare That heaven’s air in this huge rondure hems. O, let me, true in love, but truly write, and then believe me, my love is as fair.” The Bard and others celebrate this month’s astounding floral displays.
April 2025 has many global religious holidays involving flowers. Jains celebrate their founder Lord Mahavira’s birth on April 10. Followers go to temples to worship and offer flowers and sweets while distributing food and clothing to the needy. Flowers signify devotion and service.
Jews celebrate Passover from April 13-20. Remembering their deliverance by God from slavery into freedom, this festival includes flowers. It culminates in a Passover Seder meal where flowers decorate the table. Passover flower arrangements are blue for purity and white for divinity.
Hindus and Sikhs celebrate Vaisakhi on April 14. For many Hindus this marks New Year’s spring harvest festival, bathing in sacred rivers and seeking blessings from temples for the year ahead. Sikhs also observe this spring harvest festival and because their last Guru formed the Khalsa. The Khalsa is the Sikh community in general and an especially dedicated group within it. Yellow is the dominant color of Vaisakhi seen in mustard flower blooms signaling prosperity, change, joy, and fresh beginnings.
Christians celebrate Easter on April 20. Commemorating Jesus’ resurrection, this holiday holds out possibilities of forgiveness and new beginnings. The quintessential Easter lily’s white trumpet-shaped flower heralds the good news of life, hope, and transformation after death.
- Why not arrange a bouquet of April’s floral blessings?
- What service would benefit others?
- What divinity might be experienced in sharing food?
- How can embracing change bring joy and hope to this community?
- What new beginnings and transformations beckon?
Rev. Dr. Sybrant serves at Murray Hills Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). For more info, visit us at 15050 SW Weir Road, Beaverton. www.murrayhills.org | 503-524-5230
