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
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It is worthwhile to live and fight courageously for sacred ideals.Meditation | By Norbert Fabian Capek | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Flower Communion -
In the name of Providence, which implants in the seed the future of the tree and in the hearts of men [and women] the longing for people living in [human] love; in the name of the highest....Meditation | By Norbert Fabian Capek | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Flower Communion
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Infinite Spirit of Life, we ask thy blessing on these, thy messengers of fellowship and love. May they remind us, amid diversities of knowledge and of gifts, to be one in desire and affection, and devotion to thy holy will. May they also remind us of the value of comradeship, of doing and sharing...Meditation | By Norbert Fabian Capek | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Flower Communion
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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 WorshipWebTagged 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 WorshipWebTagged as: Flower Communion
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Flower Communion
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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 WorshipWebTagged as: Beauty, Earth, Flower Communion, Limitations, Nature, Transcendence