Matin Lapin: the official assigning of flower fairies

When I was about 5 years old my family "assigned" me one of Cicily Mary Barker's Flower Fairies. All children born into the family are given the sets of Flower Fairies books, so this was quite normal to my mind, and just a part of everyones' childhood.

It soon became evident which Flower Fairy each of the children would be - though this was somewhat based on looks rather than preference of flowers or even seasons. I was given the blackberry fairy, as she had a chubby-cheeked face and wild mass of curly hair, just like I did at that age. There are three of us in the family very similar in age, and after I was given blackberry, Clare was given celandine and James was given acorn.

not exactly the nicest choice of fairy for a 5 year old...

I remember after having had "my" Flower Fairy for a little while I was given another one by my mum - the pink clover fairy. I don't think it was ever decided which of the two I would have, so for my entire life I've had two, and for every birthday and Christmas since I have received at least one gift relating to either of those two fairies. I have quite the collection, as you can imagine.

So apparently, it's just my family who do this (?) - and I kinda always just assumed that everyone did it, and that everyone knew who "their" fairy was, but I have recently discovered, much to my upset, that this is not the case.

Upon asking my boyfriend which fairy he had as a child, the look of befuddlement was enough to make me realise this was not a thing that families did, it was just a thing that my family did. I wouldn't say I was crushed, but I couldn't hide my obvious upset regarding this revelation, and I'm not even sure why I was so a) surprised or b) upset by it.

So this isn't something everyone does - so what? Surely that makes it all the more special because we do it - like a family tradition. In a way that makes it more special and I'm glad I was born into the kind of family who does do stuff like that. I can't wait for more children to be born into the family and to help assign them their own Flower Fairies, and maybe if they're lucky they can even help choose their own.

Alas, I've not seen any pink clovers yet this year, but I'm keeping my eye out for them!

In the meantime there are plenty of other pretty clover goodies to look at...