Where my name Flora comes from

I have found a lot of information on the net of which I will publish a selection here. I won't include where I have found everything but the first piece of information comes from the Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology.

Flora, 'flourishing one', was the Roman goddess of flowers, gardens, and spring. She is the embodiment of all nature; her name has come to represent all plant life. She is especially a goddess of Powers, including the flower of youth. Her festival of unrestrained pleasure, the Floralia, was celebrated at the end of April and beginning of May, this festival was probably the origin of the maypole dance and the gathering of bouquets of flowers, symbolizing the bringing of spring and new life into the world. She gives charm to youth, aroma to wine, sweetness to honey, and fragrance to blossoms.

Flora teaches us to honor growing things, both inside and outside us. She is a reminder to pay attention to pleasure, to the beauty of spring, and to new life, wherever it is found.

Well, a reminder to pay attention to pleasure I need every day! I never knew that this reminder was so close to me: My Own Name!

Flora. In primitive central Italy Flora was the goddess of budding springtime, of cereals, fruit trees, the vine and flowers. With Robigus (or Robigo) she prevented wheat-rust. With Pomona she watched over fruit trees. She had a temple on the Quirinal and another near the Circus Maximus. Her festivals, the Floralia, lasted from the twenty-eighth of April to the third of May and were rather licentious. On the twenty-third of May there was another festival in her honour, a rose festival.
The Farnese Flora. The goddess of spring and flowering or blossoming plants, Flora was an Italian goddess whose cult was in existence at Rome at an early date. A temple was dedicated to her in 238 B.C. on the
advice of the Sibylline Books and her festivals, the Floralia, were celebrated annually. She was later identified with the Greek goddess Chloris. May-blossom was associated with her worship

About the painting 'Primavera' (which you can see when you click on the link above that says 'Where my name Flora comes from':

Zephyr, is transformed into Flora, the herald of spring. Botticelli takes his inspiration from Ovid's Fasti: "Chloris eram quae Flora vocor" (I once was Chloris who am now called Flora). As in the triad of the three Graces, here the neophyte is transformed, enraptured by love. The fleeing nymph (Chastity) and the amorous Zephyr (Passion) unite in Flora (Beauty).

Again this belongs to my life, to find a way to harmonize Chastity and Passion. My photo work is always a search for Beauty.