Flowering Sunday

Illustrated by Peter Bailey

The practice of leaving flowers at graves began thousands of years ago when the ancient Greeks would honor fallen warriors. They believed that if the flowers rooted into the ground and grew from the gravesite, it was a sign that the fallen had found peace. The custom has had many forms over the centuries and varies by country and religion.

In southern Wales and nearby portions of England, Sul y Blodau or Flowering Sunday is a grave decorating tradition observed on Palm Sunday, the Sunday prior to Easter. As far back as 1829, entire families - rich and poor - would spend the day tending graves, washing headstones, weeding plots, and putting fresh flowers in place. In some of the more populous areas, cemeteries were literally turned into flower gardens. Markers were whitewashed and graves were weeded and decked with flowers and garlands, including rosemary, rue, crocuses, daffodils, and primroses.  

The day included picnics and socializing with family and neighbors. An 1888 account of the event in Newport, Wales suggests it could also be a boisterous affair: “Due to the rowdyism usually prevailing in the Cemetery on Flowering Sunday, there was yesterday, a strong force of police on duty there, and of course the presence of this largely had the effect of preserving order, decorum and better conduct that has unfortunately hitherto been the rule." In 1896, in Cardiff, an onlooker described how “thousands wend their way to the Cemetery, the roads thereto presenting an appearance like unto a fair.” 

There is a touching and mournful lullaby titled Sul y Blodau. Eifion Wyn’s poem, set to music by Owen Williams, is a tribute to his baby brother Goronwy. A translated stanza follows:

Sleep, my child, without thy mother, 
In God's acre rest; 
We, this Flower Sunday, gather 
Posies for thy breast: 
Six small primroses unfolding 
Tell of summer mild; 
Sleep beneath them, none beholding, 
Sleep, my rose, my child. 

There was often a blessing before a community gathering to beautify gravesites and adorn them with fresh flowers:

Lord of the seasons, you bring new life from the earth, causing seeds to flourish from last year's dead plants; bless the flowers we bring to the graves of those we have loved, that they may be a sign to us of the new and eternal life you bring to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The original source of the term “Flowering Sunday” apparently had to do with the flowering of the fig tree. Jesus is said to have eaten figs upon entering Jerusalem, which is why fig pudding has become a traditional food to serve on Palm Sunday. 

While the tradition is not as strong as it was in the 19th century, many family members in Wales continue to place flowers of remembrance on the resting places of those departed on the Sunday prior to Easter.  Alternatively, some choose to celebrate Flowering Sunday by filling their homes with fresh blooms as a reminder of those who are either gone forever or temporarily absent.