Thread: Beginnen donderwolken op te doemen, stook dan vlug uw donderbloemen (When clouds with thunder approach, burn then your poppies fast) - Dutch saying

In Flanders the local name for common (field, corn) poppies is "donderblomme", literally "thunder flower". In Wallonia this becomes "tonnoire", after "tonnerre" (thunder)...

In the past, people used to gather red poppy flowers and make bouquets from them. These bouquets were then brought to the church where they were blessed by a priest...

When a thunderstorm approached, people would burn the poppies on the altar of the church to ward of the damaging thunderstorm...

Why?

Poppies start flowering May. Which is the beginning of the thunderstorm season in continental Europe...And flower until the thunderstorm season is over. These pictures show thunderstorm frequency in Europe per month...

This link between poppies and thunder (gods) is not only a European thing...Beginning of May falls in the middle of Taurus...Anatolian thunder god arriving on a bull and holding a trident as a symbol of thunder. Why? http://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2020/05/poppies.html

Hey @dutpekmezi3 when do Turkish red poppies ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_glaucum) flower in Central Anatolia?