Also called Chloris (Greek, per Ovid).
Their story
Flora was an ancient Italian goddess whose games, the Floralia, became annual in 173 BC after a bad season for blossom. The festival was merry and bawdy, with bright clothes, theatrical shows, and beans and lupins thrown to the crowd. In Ovid's Fasti she speaks herself, telling how she was the nymph Chloris who married the west wind. She also claims to have given Juno a flower by which she conceived Mars without a father.
Best times to give to them
- Floralia, 28 April to 3 May
- First blossom of spring
What they like being given
- Fresh flowers
- Honey
- Beans or lupin seeds scattered
- Milk
How to honour them
- Wear bright colours and flowers at the Floralia.
- Scatter wildflower seeds in her name.
- Keep fresh flowers on the altar from late April.
How they can help you
- Flourishing
- Joy and play
- Gardens and pollinators
Symbols
- flower garland
- blossom
- honey
- beans
Sources
- Ovid, Fasti 5
- Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.74
- Pliny, Natural History 18.286
More Roman goddesses
- Juno Queen of heaven and protector of women
- Minerva Patron of craftworkers, teachers and healers
- Venus Mother of the Roman people and goddess of love
- Diana Lady of the woodland grove and the moon
- Vesta The living flame at the heart of home and Rome
- Ceres Mother of the grain and friend of the common people
- Luna The moon, shining through the night
- Libera Partner of Liber in the Aventine triad