The All-Russian Day of Family, Love and Fidelity has recently entered the calendar of holidays in our country. But the emblem of the holiday - a white chamomile, more than 100 years ago has already become a symbol of another, no less worthy undertaking.
By the decision of Nicholas II, in the spring of 1911, the empire began to hold a charitable holiday-action "Day of the White Flower", the purpose of which was initially to raise funds to help patients with tuberculosis. The action came to pre-revolutionary Russia from Western Europe. There they chose a daisy as a symbol. And we have a flower of our native fields - chamomile. The population responded cordially and the whole country was drawn into this good cause. Volunteers handed out bouquets of chamomile on the streets of many cities, and in return they accepted donations of any size, even the smallest.
The Empress herself set an example: Alexandra Feodorovna and the Grand Duchesses created handicrafts with their own hands for sale in favor of the fund to help those suffering from tuberculosis and consumption. Tsar's children: Grand Duchesses Tatiana, Maria, Olga, Anastasia and the heir to the throne Alexei walked the streets with poles decorated with daisies and helped raise funds for seriously ill people.
Around the 30s of the 19th century, the days of the white merciful flower came to naught. And remained in the past for a long period of time. But they didn’t sink into it. In the late 1990s, the chamomile charity event began to revive and gradually began to spread again across Russia.
One of the organizers of this event and the continuer of the old tradition is the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, founded by the sister of the last Russian empress, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova.
