Today is Fleur-de-Lis Day, so 10 facts about this decorative symbol.
A fleur-de-lis is a heraldic symbol in the shape of a lily with three petals. In fact, the name is French for “lily flower.”
The plural is fleurs-de-lis.
It has come to be associated with French royalty, and there are numerous legends as to why this occurred. They all seem to originate with Clovis, king of the Franks (466–511). It represents a lily given to him at his baptism by The Virgin Mary; one time before a battle, numerous fleurs-de-lis miraculously appeared on his shield – he won the battle and his wife encouraged his to adopt the symbol thereafter; Clovis and his army were once trapped with an enemy army behind them and marshland ahead with the risk of becoming mired or sinking. Clovis had enough knowledge of botany to know that lilies (or possibly irises) grow near shallow water, so when he saw them nearby he knew that was a safe place to cross with his army and escape; Clovis was once anointed by an angel using a flask in the shape of a flower. In any case, it was on the traditional coat of arms of France from the High Middle Ages until the French Revolution in 1792.
That said, early French kings weren’t the first to use a symbol of this type. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Mesopotamians all used it in their art and/or on Coins.
Christianity adopted the lily as a symbol of purity and the Immaculate Conception. The Virgin Mary and numerous saints including Saint Joseph are often depicted with lilies. The three petals, in addition, could be said to represent the Holy Trinity.
In the UK, Fleurs-de-lis feature prominently in the Crown Jewels of England and Scotland, and were often used in heraldry to denote a sixth son.
French settlers took the symbol to the New World and so it has become a symbol often used in the areas of the US and Canada that were settled by the French, such as Quebec.
Sir Robert Baden-Powell used the symbol as an arm-badge for soldiers in his 5th Dragoon Guards who qualified as scouts, and later for the badges for his Boy Scout movement. The fleur-de-lis remains part of the Scout and Guide logos to this day.
In the French colonial empire, branding with this symbol was used as a punishment for slaves who tried to escape or stole from their masters.
In surgery, fleur-de-Lis abdominoplasty is a kind of surgical procedure for people who have lost huge amounts of weight, also known as an FDL tummy tuck.
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