What is the birth flower for April? Relying on the current classification, it's Daisy. There is a belief that the Holy Mother of God once decided to present a small gift in the form of a wreath of flowers to baby Jesus. But she wasn't able to find any flower in the cold winter fields. Therefore, Mary decided to use silk to make an artificial flower. Eventually, she created a small Daisy made of yellow silk and the thick white threads, and baby Jesus was pleased with this gift. In the end, she pierced her finger using a needle, and the drops of blood colored some parts of the threads with a reddish or pinkish color. That's a reason why one may meet the pink and red petals of Daisy in nature, according to the legend.

The Roman legend tells us the story of Belides, a dryad. She played with the other nymphs in the forest and accidentally got into the field of view of Vertumnus, the god of seasons. In an attempt to escape the pursuit, she turned herself into a Daisy. Another version of this legend says that the Deity decided to protect her innocence and thus turned her into "Bellis Perrenis" that means "eternal beauty." This term applied by the modern scientists to Daisy. However, Daisy got its name from the Greek word "Margarites," which means, a Pearl, since millions of Daisy flowers that cover the green fields look like Pearls.

Customs & Traditions

The main feature attributed to Daisy is to predict the future. So Daisy is the fortune-telling flower. This custom is widespread around the globe, excepting may be just England. Indeed, it's curious, how all the people in the world managed to learn this peculiarity of Daisy. In Germany, there is a name "Maasliebchen" that means the measure of love. This term applied to Daisy has its roots in the ancient children’s game, where kids tore off the petals of a Daisy in an attempt to learn the future.

But the meaning of this custom was a bit different. The children run away from home for a walk. In the evening, they tried to avoid the punishment. They used Daisy to ask the flower, whether or not their parents will punish them?

In France, Daisy was the flower of love. In Normandy, there was a song about Daisy "Daisy, little flower, red around the edges, and with a green border. Open (say) the fate of my love."

Daisy played a considerable role in the Medieval history. This flower played a prominent role for the Knights, in particular. The knight obtained the right to wear a Daisy on his armor when a lady approved his proposal. Otherwise, he received a wreath of daisies that meant that she is still thinking about marriage. As a result, this response served hope to the knight, encouraging him for the various exploits and bravery.

Rumors

There is a rumor that during the gala dinner of King Charles the Bold, on the occasion of his marriage to British Princess Margaret, there was a present in the form of a marvelous mechanical unicorn. On the back of the unicorn was a leopard holding the national emblem of England in one paw and a daisy in the other one. The unicorn bypassed around the table, and the knight accompanying this mechanical animal took a Daisy out of leopard's paw and gave it to the King.

Another curious case happened to Margaret of France, a daughter of Francis I. When she came back homeland, her husband, Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, presented her a golden basket full of Daisy flowers, adorned with gems. A pink ribbon surrounded the basket contained an inscription "Each flower is unique. But if I could have a chance to choose one of the thousand flowers, I would choose a Daisy.