Flowers don't just look pretty - they're really important in lots of religions too! When Buddha took his first steps as a very small child, a lotus flower is said to have grown out of each of the seven footprints he left.

There is a story about a Mexican girl who wanted to leave a gift for Jesus in church one Christmas. Because she was very poor, she picked some weeds on her way. She put them in front of the statue of Jesus’ mother, Mary, where they blossomed into the beautiful bright red flowers – called poinsettia – that lots of people use to decorate their homes at Christmas.

There is a type of lily in Thailand that people call ‘dawk phutaraksu’, which means ‘Buddha’s protection’. Thais like to see them growing wild because it makes them feel like someone is looking after them.

The Yaqui Indians come from Arizona in the USA. They believe that when Jesus’ blood fell from the cross, it turned into flowers.

Hindus remember the day that one of their gods, Brahma, began to make the world at a festival called Ugadi. People make garlands out of a small, white flower called jasmine and offer them to the gods in their homes and temples. So this is one of the nicest smelling festivals you’ll ever come across!

The Ancient Greeks believed that when people who had been very good died, they went to a place in their underworld, Hades, called the ‘Elysium Fields’. Everyone else was doomed to wander forever through fields filled with a weedy little plant, called an asphodel.

On 1 October, Christians remember the life of Saint Teresa of Liseaux. She is sometimes called 'the little flower' and is always pictured holding a rose.