During the year many of us will be part of events that are relevant to the family or within the circle of friends, on occasions these events may very well be one off events such as weddings and funerals, but some of them will be a yearly reoccurrence such as birthdays and anniversaries, regardless of the event you are attending flowers can be given as a gift and are appropriate to celebrate just about any special occasion. As far as traditional gifts go you cant get much more traditional than flower, its no surprise that they have been given at both birthdays and funerals for many years, hey are given to celebrate live and to offer condolences at these very separate aspects of life, a gift that can be given at at occasions that are polar opposites apart.
Birthday flowers are one of the staple gifts for many women on their birthdays and they have become a very traditional gift throughout the world, there are appropriate varieties of flower to give to a person depending on the month of the year that their birthday falls on, sp for instance Roses are the flower of choice for June. It is thought that giving flowers dependant on the month of the year was a gesture started in the Roman Empire, of course the Romans and other cultures used flowers in religious ceremony and particularly those associated with occasions honouring their gods, despite the Roman Empires advances in modern technology they hadnt quite mastered how to grow flower all year round so their flower choice would have been season dependant.
On the other hand funeral flowers have been a popular gift to give to a person who has just lost a loved one, they are given as a symbol of compassion a grief but also to brighten up a somewhat unhappy experience, however flowers have been used at funerals for centuries for a far more practical reason. Without the modern technology and techniques employed between the time of death and the funeral, a decomposing body can produce quite an odour, as such flowers were typically used to repress the offensive odours.