Papal colours to dominate floral decorations in St. Peter's Square for Easter

March 26, 2013: Over 40, 000 plants, branches and cut flowers will be used in the decorations for the Easter Mass this year. The Dutch horticultural sector is decorating the Easter Mass in St Peters’ Square for the 28^th consecutive year. White and yellow, the papal colours, are quite appropriately the dominating colours in the flower decoration on display during the Easter Mass and following Urbi and Orbit Blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The newly elected pope Francis will be welcomed with a celebrative selection of bulb flowers, trees and shrubs, either green or flowering due to the special process that enable trees and flowers to reach their top in floral splendor during the Easter days. Cut flower arrangements are specially designed and made up by a small team of specialists flown in from Holland, many of them collaborating on this particular job from the beginning, now more than 25 years ago. These information were provided to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications by Lidy Peters, a Dutch journalist who is in contact with the Dutch florists.

Flowers and plants from Holland are a regular feature of the Easter Mass. The foundation for this was laid in 1985 , when Dutch arranger Nic van der Voort , who regularly provided floral arrangements for church events in the Netherlands , was invited to take care of the floral decoration in Rome for the beatification of the Dutch priest Titus Brandsma .

From here the idea was born to do the same thing during the Easter celebrations in 1986. Ever since that first year the Pope has granted an audience to the Dutch florist delegation to express his appreciation and thanks for the contribution that they make to the Easter Mass.

Pope John Paul II also expressed that appreciation during his Easter greeting in 1989, “ Bedankt voor de bloemen” - thanks for the flowers - that became a well-known phrase in Dutch, and from that year on, a traditional part of the Papal Easter greeting.
All bulbous plants are cultivated on purpose for the occasion and the same goes for the flowered shrubs and trees.