Flowers for Worship, Flowers for Sale: Straddling the ‘Sacred’ and the ‘Secular’

One core area of this research is focused on the place of flowers in Hindu worship. In the words of one of my respondents ‘Hindus need flowers for birth, death and everything else in between.’ Thus I was inspired to narrate the story of fresh flowers, their presence in Singapore and their status and relevance in everyday Hindu religiosity. A comprehensive account would require detailed attention to the production, distribution and consumption patterns of fresh flowers. Within the scope of this chapter, I begin with evidence of the meaning of flowers in everyday Hindu worship and locate my enquiries within the realm of consumption. I then ask where these flowers come from and how they are made accessible to consumers in Singapore. These questions directed me to uncover mechanisms of regional and global distribution of flowers and the routes they travelled through such intermediaries as wholesalers, exporters, importers and retailers before coming to rest with consumers. Working backwards from the realm of consumption, I ask these apparently simple questions: Are there home grown blooms in Singapore? If not, where do flowers come from and how do they get to Singapore? Who brings them in and through what channels? Whose labour and efforts transform loose, fresh jasmines, marigolds, roses into floral strings and garlands ready for sale in the five-foot way shops on a daily basis, and their eventual use in homes and temples? It was clear that answers to these questions would reveal the key mechanisms and processes through which flowers (often travelling long distances) are secured and the networks through which they are distributed and thus accessible to consumers. Given, the symbolism of flowers in Hindu worship they are deemed to be central even in the simplest act of puja. But how are these to be accessed in an urban, diasporic locale of Singapore? Additionally, these discussions about flowers and their place in Hindu worship make it possible to reflect on the category ‘sacred’ as applied to objects of worship.