The Lenten Lily

The old name for this most springlike of flowers, the one that never fails to lift my heart and make me smile.
Daffy-down-dillies do remind me so much of Mothering Sunday, when I was a little girl, and with it coming up this weekend I found my thoughts wandering back down the years. The were less expensive than most other flowers – so I could buy them with my own money, which made me feel very "grown up". Old stories tell me that when many girls & boys were “in service” before the First World War they were entitled to only one half day a month off – usually a Sunday afternoon – this time of year it often fell in the middle of Lent – when spring flowers were in bloom. As these youthful working people walked home to their parents cottages, they passed hedgerows full of golden daffodils in bloom – and tempted to pick them wouldn’t you have wanted to take some home to your mum?? Also as I have a fondness for old English nursery rhymes, it seems appropriate to include this rhyme – -

Daffy-Down-Dilly
Daffy-down-dilly has come up to town
In a fine petticoat and a green gown.
Dressed in her finest yellow array,
Laughing & dancing all through the day.

There is also this version
Daffy-down-dilly
Has come to town
With a yellow petticoat
And a pretty green gown.

Bannaghtyn J x