Flores De Mayo is a Filipino tradition. A Catholic procession remixed with pageantry, it was a festival used to honor the Virgin Mary by the exchange of flowers. My cousins, my sisters, and my entire family would watch and participate in these events as we walked down the streets of Santa Rosa embodying queens and flowers.
The pieces are designed as arches and flowers because of the decorations and grandeur of the festival. Large over the top earrings and small subtle earrings that give you a small piece of beauty to always adorn you.
My reclamation of this uniquely Filipino Catholic tradition, is to understand that its origin is the honoring of women and beauty. Flores is about giving people flowers while they are still alive to smell them, it is about seeing the love in each other and letting it grow and blossom like a rose.
