Our Children and 
Their Flowers 
characteristic and more interesting to the mind of the child 
than the botanical names — which I never could learn in 
those days. 
How the Flowers 
get their Names. 
Since then I have learnt many of their beautiful Swedish 
names, just as characteristic as the English, and very often 
very similar to those, since both have arisen from the same 
source. Originally all education was in the hands of the 
monks, and the majority of names have probably their 
origin in Bible subjects. In those times the monks under- 
stood how to teach the people, by the aid of their familiar 
surroundings, to love both the history of the Bible and the 
legends of the Church. To this end they gave each flower 
a symbolic name, and each flower fulfilled a definite mission, 
for, when the children picked the flowers, they were thus 
reminded of a sacred subject. 
The people were also taught to make stiff little 
bouquets, take them to the church and put them on the 
altar. Each season and saint had its particular flower, 
and a large number of llowers were dedicated to the 
Virgin Mary. The custom of carrying a bouquet to church 
still survives in the country districts of Sweden. 
The practice of dressing the Maypole with garlands on 
Mid-Summer Eve is believed to be a survival of the teach- 
ings of the monks, and is traced by some to the custom of 
decorating the church for the Festival of St. John the Baptist. 
My children have derived great pleasure from their 
habit of digging up plants anywhere and putting them in 
their own little patch. It seems that the modest wild 
flowers appeal to them more than any other ones. They 
are keenly interested in the experiment of making the 
woodland flowers at home in their garden. It is just in 
connection with this part of their garden-work that I try — 
by means of legends and old sayings — to teach my little 
ones how the flowers got their names. That makes them 
remember and recognise the flowers when they see 
them again. 
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