Vases of daffodils and hyacinth on altar.

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 21 - 27 of 27

  • Speak, flowers, speak! Why do you say nothing? The flowers have the gift of language. In the meadow they speak of freedom, Creating patterns wild and free as no gardener could match. In the forest they nestle, snug carpets under the roof of Leaf and branch, making a rug of such softness....
    Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Earth, Fear, Flower Communion, Hope, Nature, Vernal Equinox
  • Adapted from Flower Sunday, 1969 On a day such as this may a great change come upon us. The sounds we have been hearing have been discordant; the sights we have been seeing have been violent; the words we have been reading have been hateful. All this has been wearying, discouraging and distracting.
    Meditation | By William B Rice | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Flower Communion
  • We gather this morning in celebration and appreciation. We rejoice in those true treasures and gifts of life that are beyond any price. We rejoice especially in the children of our church, for their music and their words, for their laughter and their song, and for the bright joy of their very...
    Meditation | By Sheldon W Bennett | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Flower Communion
  • Each of us is a flower, with a delicate beauty uniquely our own. We may be like sunflowers, turning always towards the light. May our lives bloom like the flowers. We may be like night-blooming cereus, only displaying our fragrant petals when it is dark and we think no one can see. May our lives...
    Meditation | By Amy Zucker Morgenstern | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Individualism, Nature
  • There are two things we can learn from a daffodil to help ourselves and each other.
    Time for All Ages | By Ruth E Gibson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Change, Earth, Earth-Centered, Flower Communion, Growth, Nature, Spring, Strength, Transformation, Vernal Equinox, Wonder
  • Blessed be the flower that triumphs at last Over the snows, over the centuries, over the heavy feet of cattle and of soldiers treading down the fragile places of the earth....
    Meditation | By Michael DeVernon Boblett | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Flower Communion, Unitarian Universalism
  • Enter into the communion of flowers with joyful hearts. Enter with reverent thoughts. It has taken long months beneath cold ground for these flowers to prepare their blooming. It has taken each of us long times of growth through sorrow and joy to prepare for our living now. The blooming season is...
    Meditation | By Elizabeth M Strong | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Beauty, Earth, Flower Communion, Limitations, Nature, Transcendence