Offering Flowers Before the Buddha: The Bunch Changed Weekly

A close-up of a pair of floral offerings in front of a deity table. The vases are an identical pair of plain, unpatterned white porcelain or brass bottles. They are arranged with the most common flowers for Taiwanese altars: yellow and white chrysanthemums, gladioli, and a few stalks of canna, with stems trimmed to a consistent length and all flower faces pointing forward, in a formal rather than natural arrangement. The quantity and height of flowers in both vases are as symmetrical as possible. The flowers are fresh, leaves are upright, and the water is clear. Next to them is a small plate of fruit—three apples or a bunch of bananas, also offered in pairs. The background is the dark red wood color of the deity table. Avoid: using Western-style natural flower arrangements, making the two vases noticeably asymmetrical, adding non-altar flowers like roses, depicting withered flowers.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

神桌前的一對供花特寫。花器是一對相同的白瓷或黃銅瓶,瓶身素淨無紋。插的是台灣供桌最常見的花材:黃色與白色的菊花、劍蘭、與幾支唐菖蒲,花莖修剪得長度一致,花面全部朝前,是規整而不是自然的插法。左右兩瓶的花量與高度盡量對稱。花是新鮮的,葉片挺立,水面清澈。旁邊擺著一小盤水果——三顆蘋果或一串香蕉,同樣是成雙成套的供奉方式。背景是神桌的深紅木色。避免:使用西式的自然風插花手法、讓兩瓶明顯不對稱、加入玫瑰等非供桌花材、把花畫成枯萎。