Flowering the cross

Flowering the cross is a Western Christian tradition practiced at the arrival of Easter, in which worshippers place flowers on the bare wooden cross that was used in the Good Friday liturgy, in order to symbolize "the new life that emerges from Jesus’s death on Good Friday".

[2] It symbolizes, in Christianity, "the new life that emerges from Jesus’s death on Good Friday" as well as how "God turns darkness to light, sin into salvation.

"[2][4] Additionally, the practice may originate in the pious belief "that the tears Mary shed at the foot of Jesus’ cross miraculously turned into flowers.

"[1] Certain congregations of many Western Christian denominations, such as the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican churches, observe Good Friday by placing a bare wooden cross before the entrance of the chancel for worshippers to venerate during the liturgy.

[3] On Easter Sunday and throughout the season of Eastertide, the cross stands in a visible location near the chancel as a symbol of the risen Christ for congregants to see.