The Flower Ceremony, sometimes referred to as Flower Communion or Flower Festival, is an annual ritual that celebrates beauty, human uniqueness, diversity, and community.
Originally created in 1923 by Unitarian minister Norbert Čapek of Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Flower Ceremony was introduced to the United States by Rev. Mája Čapek, Norbert's widow.* This piece on WorshipWeb, by the Revs. Teresa and David Schwartz, tells The Story of Norbert Čapek's Flower Ceremony.
Please visit our Flower Ceremony Centennial page!
In this ceremony, everyone in the congregation brings a flower. Each person places a flower on the altar or in a shared vase. The congregation and minister bless the flowers, and they're redistributed. Each person brings home a different flower than the one they brought.
Faith Without Borders
Celebrating the Flower Ceremony is an excellent opportunity for Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations to express their commitment to our Sixth Principle: We covenant to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. Read Sixth Principle Resources for the Flower Ceremony.
*Note: Č is a separate latter of the Czech alphabet, pronounced like the "ch" in "chocolate." Čapek is pronounced "CHOP-ek," and Mája is pronounced "Maya."
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 27
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I am singing/of the wonder of how roots/so love the buds they bid them grow...Poetry | By Jennifer Pratt-Walter | September 20, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Earth, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Nature, WorshipWeb, Worship -
Celebrate 100 Years of the Flower Ceremony! The first Flower Ceremony was held in Prague, in June 2023, led by Rev. Norbert Čapek.Leader Resource | By Erika Hewitt | January 17, 2023 | From WorshipLabTagged as: Flower Communion, Unitarianism, Worship Tips -
Čapek turned to the beauty of the countryside; to the beauty of flowers.Reading | By Teresa Schwartz, David Schwartz | June 16, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Flower Communion, Unitarianism, WorshipWeb, Worship -
It is not by chance that you arrived here today. You have been looking for something larger than yourself. Inside of you there is a yearning, a calling, a hope for more, A desire for a place of belonging and caring. Through your struggles, someone nurtured you into being, Instilling a belief in a...Opening | By Kimberlee Anne Tomczak Carlson | September 14, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Abundance, Acceptance, Caring, Coming Out, Commitment, Community, Flower Communion, Home, Homecoming / Ingathering, New Member Ceremony, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion -
Within the heart of the flower, the fountain of beauty Within the heart of the community, a fire that warms and dances Within the heart of each of us, a spark of the spirit of life. Holy, holy, holy.Chalice Lighting | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | May 29, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, God, Nature, Paganism, Sacred, Wonder -
Let us give thanks for a bouquet of people. We give thanks for children. Like tulips and iris, they multiply around us, making the world ever more filled with color, beauty, and new life. May we bless them as they replant themselves ever further from us, knowing that they need their own space to...Prayer | By Claire Feingold Thoryn | May 11, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Friendship, Gratitude, Humanism, Nature, Secular -
No hot house flowers, these, bred for perfection, dyed and trimmed, and arranged to order, clothed in ribbons and bows. Not these. No, these are hardy, raw and wild. Grown under the sky, they’ve weathered the wind and the rain and the heat. These drew nutrients from the neighborhood soil and...Meditation | By Lisa Doege | June 22, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Abundance, Beauty, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Humility, Nature, Spring, Vulnerability, Wonder, WorshipWeb
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In colors bright and essence sweet, like flowers we blossom when we meet.Doxology | By Lisa Doege | June 22, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Community, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Nature, WorshipWeb -
Laura Evonne Steinman created this coloring page (PDF) for children to use on Flower Ceremony Sunday.Image | By Laura Evonne Steinman | June 13, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Earth, Flower Communion, Nature, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism
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Early in the morning, before the children are awake and while the grass is still dewy, I like to walk in my garden. It’s “my” garden only because it shares the same small plot of land my family and I inhabit. The garden does not really belong to me; I belong to it—at least for the short time...Meditation | By David M. Horst | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Beauty, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Grace, Mystery, Nature, Spiritual Practice, Summer Solstice, Vernal Equinox, Wonder