Nostalgia Sunday – Pressed Wildflowers
Filed under: Environment, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, Travel
Last week’s freakishly warm weather sent the almond trees into bloom. Although it was a false spring, residents of the entire country went out for their annual wildflower trek.
Yes, Israelis love their wildflowers. Well, at least they know not to pick wildflowers. In fact the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) did such a good job of brainwashing the past few generations of schoolchildren that you will never catch an Israeli picking a wildflower. They’ll throw garbage on it, pee on it, build an ugly edifice next to it, but pick it?! Never.
When I was a child, a bookmark with pressed wildflowers was one of the more charming tourist trinkets you could pick up (hard to find but still charming today).
Back in the pre-TV days, before the ban on picking wildflowers took hold, Israeli schoolchildren were encouraged to not only to pick but also to collect and study the different kinds of flora native to this land, and press them between the pages of a book.
Later on, commerce got into the act and albums were made available as promotional items like this one from margarine manufacturer Telma Gold Band.
And of course, the Israel Postal Authority (today’s Israel Post), did its part by issuing stamps of our most popular wildflowers.
Competing margarine manufacturer Blue Band also took on the cause as part of an advertising campaign bossily entitled (in the command form) “Know Our Country’s Flowers”. This ad is for the caper (Capparis spinosa L.). I’m not sure why all these margarine makers were so interested in educating the young people about wildflowers but I’m guessing it had something to do with safflower oil.
Today, you’re more likely to find cultivated flowers, rather than wild ones, pressed and waxed or laminated into bookmarks, candles and jewelry. I’m not sure, however, what the SPNI would make of this set of nails, but you’ve got to admire the work put into these tiny purple petals, lacquered and bonded onto synthetic tips, the handiwork of manicurist Ronit!
CNN scents ISRAEL21c flower story
CNN World Report this week broadcast Molly Livingstone’s excellent piece for ISRAEL21c on floral scent research at Hebrew University.
Wedding Survival Tips
Matching yarmulkes and matchbooks, engraved invitations, tuxedoes and matching bride/bridesmaids outfits, and lots and lots of flowers. Sounds like a wedding. B
ut not an Israeli one! Like most other things in Israel, weddings are like you remember them from “back there” – but different, in a number of ways.
1. Dress – What marks Israeli weddings more than any other featuring is a lack of formality. Having been to weddings where the couples were from all sorts of different backgrounds – secular, modern/ultra-orthodox, very wealthy or otherwise – I’ve come across exactly one tuxedo, and a few suits (usually on the grooms). The most formal any guest is willing to go is usually a sports jacket (not necessarily matching the slacks, either), but the vast majority wear Dockers-style pants and a shirt – white at religious weddings, or a variety of colors where the guests are of a more secular orientation.
2. Venue – In Israel, you’ve got two choices for a venue: In town, at a catering hall (usually in an industrial zone), or, an increasingly popular choice, at an outdoor country location, usually in a kibbutz or moshav. All venues, though, sport the “open chuppah” – with the actual ceremony held under the stars, regardless of the weather (I was at one where it snowed!). In urban halls, this usually entails going up to the building’s roof, which is gussied up for the occasion, while at a country location, the ceremony is held at the most picturesque spot on the property. The venue will also sport just a few dozen chairs, with most people standing – and unless you are at a very ultra-orthodox wedding, you’ll find that, even if there is nominal separation (like standing on different sides of the aisle the wedding party marches down), lots of couples end up standing or sitting together. Because there’s no American-style Sunday in Israel, a Saturday night event is unheard of, and Sunday ceremonies are rare – the preferred evenings being Monday or Thursday.
3. Food – Of course, we go to weddings to help our friends celebrate, and not for the food (yeah, right). But if you’re expected to give a couple hundred shekels as a gift for the new couple, you might as well make a night out of it. The one universal rule for Israeli weddings is – come early, because that’s often when they put out the best food. Pre-ceremony hors d’ouvres and smorgasbords, served while family and friends gather, nowadays often feature treats like sushi, Mexican tortillas and wraps, stir fry, etc., and that goes for catering halls geared to nearly all crowds. It’s at dinner that the differences show themselves; at religious weddings, you often have to wait awhile for dinner to be served, because the major celebratory dancing of the evening takes place first – and the food itself isn’t always, let’s say, gourmet level. Buffets are always better than sit-downs – and generally, from my observation, the more secular the couple and the families, the better the food (it’s all kosher, of course – otherwise no rabbi would conduct the ceremony). In either case, don’t feel like you’re missing something if you leave before dessert.
4. Entertainment – If the food is better at “less religious” weddings, the entertainment and fun is much better where the young couple come from a religious background. The bride and groom invite all their yeshivah or seminary friends, and there is wild and spirited dancing (separate, of course), with friends honoring the happy couple. Depending on how talented the couple’s friends are, you could also get a great “floor show” – with kids performing magic tricks, swallowing fire, juggling, breakdancing, or doing other “shtick” in honor of the newlyweds. At weddings with a more secular tone, they start off with Jewish-style dancing, too (with men and women usually forming separate circles, as well), which will drift into mixed horas or disco-style dancing after awhile. Regardless, after a couple of vigorous rounds of “simcha” dancing on a warm night, anyone who was wearing a jacket has stowed it on the back of their chair – and you realize why no one is wearing a tuxedo!
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