The reporters of the national news agency Agerpres spoke with the family of florists who, for 20 years, have been coming from Bucharest with flowers to decorate the baldachin for Saint Parascheva in Iași.

Ioan Buștei travelled to Iași with his family, the company’s specialised team, and a vast quantity of flowers. He has been doing this for twenty years for each Saint Parascheva feast.

In 2004, the Buştei family was in a dire financial bind and sought solace in their faith. They travelled to Iași for three months to venerate Saint Parascheva’s relics. The family’s situation subsequently improved.

They claimed that since then, the Saint has been with them during their most difficult and joyful times. Since then, as a gesture of gratitude, the Buștei family has decided to embellish the baldachin, specially erected in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral, to facilitate pilgrims’ access to the relics.

Every year, the flowers get to be colour-coordinated with the vestment of Saint Parascheva, although Buștei family never consults beforehand with the representatives of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Iași. Photo: Doxologia.ro / Oana Nechifor

“Our joy continues. We always come with much love and will to do beautiful things. Saint Parascheva helps; she certainly helps. It’s hard for us to explain with words what happens in our souls, what happens in our lives,” Ioan Buștei told Agerpres.

He also told the reporters that the flowers they bring yearly are always coordinated with the vestments worn by the Saint’s relics. However, they never consult the Metropolitan Cathedral representatives on this matter: “We never know in advance how the Saint will be attired. This occurs without any prior consultations.”

Flowers bloom when placed on the baldachin

When transferred onto the vehicles that must reach the Metropolis of Moldavia and Bukovina, most of the flowers are buds. As soon as they are laid on the baldachin, they blossom.

“Because we require very fresh flowers, the work and arrangement of the decorations begins in Bucharest, where we have a floral warehouse. About twenty individuals are working on these collections. We prepare the flowers, organise them, and create floral arrangements by arranging them elegantly in water. Preparation requires approximately three days,” Ioan Buștei explained.

“We select them for their freshness, but this location and Saint Parascheva keep them fresh for a long time. There was a year in which they remained fresh for one month. That is thirty days, and we are proficient with flowers. It seems like a very long time to us.”

The baldachin of Saint Parascheva was decorated one day before the official opening of the celebrations of the patron saint of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Iași. Photo: Doxologia.ro / Oana Nechifor

“In the year that the pandemic broke out, we brought flowers to Iaşi. We were prohibited from decorating the baldachin. We brought them back to Bucharest and stored them in the refrigerator for a week before we could come back and arrange them. We transported them to Iași,” florist Ioan Buștei also recounted.

“They were already two weeks old when I purchased them. They remained on the baldachin for one additional week. In other words, they lasted nearly a month without discolouring the petals, stems, or foliage. This means that Iași is a beautiful city with kind residents and a Venerable Saint who watches over us,” the flower seller concluded.

This year, the relics of Saint Andrew of Crete will be transported to Iași from Arkalochori, Crete’s Metropolitan Cathedral. Arrival is scheduled for October 11.

Photography courtesy of Agerpres / Daniela Malache