How New Photos Echo Classic Photos: Frida’s Flower Children

I wonder if you’ve seen any of the “Maya girls” taken by AP photographer, Daniel Ochoa de Olza? The photos have sprouted in various news galleries recently. Here are more from AP’s collection, and this NBC caption provides the backstory:

A ‘Maya’ girl sits in an altar during the traditional celebration of ‘Las Mayas’ on the streets in Madrid, Spain, May 10, 2015. The festivity of the Maya comes from pagan rites and dates from the medieval age, appearing in ancient documents. It takes place every year in the beginning of May and celebrates the beginning of spring. Girls between 7 and 11 years old are chosen as ‘Maya’ and should sit still, serious and quiet for a couple of hours in altars on the street decorated with flowers and plants and afterwards they walk to the church with their family where they attend a ceremony.

If perfectly nice in their display of youth, layer and pattern, what’s more illustrative is the way fresh blooms channel the allure of more exquisite flowers already planted in our cultural DNA.