But first, a little close up look at some more of Rochelle's fangtastic fleur accessories. Boo la la! Okay, back to the topic. People have been making themselves look stylish with flowers for centuries (see Skelita's marigold necklace and Cleo de Nile's yet-to-be-discussed obsession with the Lotus flower) because flowers are pretty but they also carry meaning. The fleur-de-lis is a flower and a symbol and its meaning has always been clear - in the beginning the fleur-de-lis has meant royalty. In fact, the fleur-de-lis has become part of royal legend in France. Remember, legends are good stories, but they usually involve some weird (and possibly untrue) stuff. There are stories about golden lilies (or irises) magically appearing on the shield of Clovis, the first king of France, and even about little gold fleur-de-lis raining down from the skies to show that he was the true king. There's even a story that an angel flew down from heaven with a flask shaped like a fleur-de-lis. It was was full of oil, and the angel smeared it all over Clovis to show that he was the right guy to be king. Covered in oil? Who said being royalty was easy? Clovis was a good and famous king and so other royals wanted to be like him. They stamped fleur-de-lis on money, put it on flags, shields and spears and built it into their architecture. If you visit France you will see fleur-de-lis in tile, stone, brick, paint and even glass, like the stained glass window below. So if the fleur de lis means royalty, what's it doing in all of these cathedrals and chapels? As usual with history, meanings change over time. The Christian church adopted the fleur de lis symbol and changed its meaning. For Christians the three petals mean the trinity. Trinity comes from tri which means three, like triangle or tricycle. The Trinity is a way of talking about the three states of God in Christianity - the father, the son and the holy ghost. La Sainte Chapelle, where most of these photos were taken, was also the royal chapel so the fleur de lis does double duty meaning god and king! One of the best things about cathedrals in France is that they are often home to gargoyles. I'll post about those later, but looking at all of these fleur de lis, I kinda think that La Sainte Chapelle is where Rochelle would like to hang out. Closeup of the ceiling of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris by Shan |
AuthorA creature with Monster High obsessed students Archives
July 2014
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