Tulips

I was delighted the other day, walking over the Galata Bridge, to see signs for Istanbul's yearly Tulip Festival! Sound familiar, Canadians? In Ottawa we have a tulip festival every May when the city is positively covered in beautiful tulips. How fun to discover that Istanbul has a similar tradition! Right now they are everywhere!

Tulips are one of my favourite flowers - a true sign that spring has come, or is on the way. Every March or April, once I see tulips for sale in the store in Minneapolis, I keep a bunch in the vase on my table for the following weeks until the sun truly starts to warm our faces and the snow is gone. The sight of them kind of keeps me going...

We always think of tulips as originating from Holland - but did you know they are actually from Turkey? They were first introduced to Europe by a botanist from Vienna in the 17th century. His name was Carolus Clusius, and he received the bulbs from his friend Ogier Ghiselain de Busbecq, who was the ambassador to Constantinople (present day Istanbul) at the time. The flower is named a "tulip" after the Turkish word for "turban".

Tulip imagery is everywhere in Turkey. In textiles and tiles, even the chai tea glass is shaped like a tulip. There is a Tulip Period in Turkish history which was marked by a "flowering" of arts and culture, influenced by the Baroque movement. To this day the tulip is still considered the embodiment of beauty and perfection in Turkey.