These days, a corsage is worn at a festive situation or juncture. Major a boutonniere ( button hole ) is worn on the collar or top pocket of a gentleman ' s jacket at analogous festive events.
However, the history of the corsage and boutonniere could not be further removed. Both of these items began life as a structure of military heraldry. Plane more strangely, they were completely unofficial in value and their development into the items we know today makes a fascinating history.
Many of you itemizing this will have heard of the War of the Roses in the United Reign. When the houses of Lancaster and York fought for the go to present a king to the English field.
Here, the ruby Chestnut of Lancaster and the White Rubicund of York were worn prominently by those in battle to denote which side they were fighting on. It obligation be remembered that in a civil war the uniforms, language and other obvious signs that somebody is an enemy are not present. A simple flower worn in a prominent position was used instead.
But these protagonists from another era were not the first to use a corsage or boutonniere as an accessory to denote allegiance. We can go back to 2000 years BC and the South American Aztec peoples of central Mexico.
Although the society was mostly pastoral, competitions and inter - tribal wars were actually quite common. Corsage and indeed boutonniere were often worn to show which side you are representing in sport.
These accessories were a vital component of the sport. Wrestling, fighting and games of a nature perhaps too barbaric to go into detail here were carried out by participants wearing very little else in the way of clothing other than a flower, often worn in a hair all wrapped under a tight necklace.
There is a suggestion that perhaps even the ancient Egyptians sometimes used a corsage or boutonniere as part of their tribal markings. However, there is no specific reference to this in any surviving literature or art, and of course the flowers, being organic have long since wilted and died.
As recently as the great War of 1914 to 1918, British troops wore a white lily in the battlefields of Ypres. Although the uniforms both sides were markedly different, the war had been going on for so long and the clothes were so worn and dirty that a fresh corsage of lilies worn attached to the battle tunic allowed the English troops to see a friend from foe.
Even now, the tradition of wearing a boutonniere, buttonhole or corsage is tied up with the idea of belonging to a particular party or event. It ' s traditional for the bride to choose the colour and style of bloom to be worn at a wedding. Thus the idea is that everyone wearing flower accessories of this type is shown to be associated with that one particular wedding or event. This probably goes back to the days where many weddings were carried out almost simultaneously at churches and large outdoor ceremonies.
Next time you see a celebratory party where the accessories of corsage and boutonniere are being worn, remember what a strange and frightening history these floral decorations have.
