Flowering

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Flowering is a euphemism for a girl’s first menstrual period. The blood is the seal of womanhood. It means that she is now fit to be wedded and bedded. [1]

In the "general Westerosi view," girls may well be wed before their first flowerings, for political reasons, but it would be considered perverse to bed them. And such early weddings, even without sexual intercourse, remain rare. Generally weddings are postponed until the bride has passed from girlhood to maidenhood. [2]

Quotes

And I am no child, but a maiden flowered.[3]

- Alayne Stone, to Lady Waynwood


She has had her blood. She is old enough for the khal.[4]

- Illyrio Mopatis, on Daenerys Targaryen's suitability as a prospective bride for khal Drogo


For girls, the first flowering is also very significant... and in older traditions, a girl who has flowered is a woman, fit for both wedding and bedding. A girl who has flowered, but not yet attained her sixteenth name day, is in a somewhat ambigious position: part child, part woman. A "maid," in other words. Fertile but innocent, beloved of the singers.[2]

References