vi: Foraging for Colour
Faerie bells ringing new beginnings Marissa Stoffer After a long winter lockdown, the season is slowly, but surely, changing. Brighter, longer, warmer, days are approaching as tree buds form, leaves emerge, and flowers rise above the earth to colour the ground beneath our feet. Like flowers gesturing in the wind, our lives move and transform with the tides of the air, and flowers help us to reconsider our position and frame of mind. Wordsworth’s famous Daffodil poem is probably resonating with many of us just now, so Narcissus Pseudonarcissus will be our plant in focus this month. As we forage for colour, we braid links between people, place, language, and identity. Our common Daffodil has many common names: Affodil; Bacon and Eggs; Belle-blome; Bell Flowers; Bell Rose; Butter and Eggs; Chalice Flower; Codlins and Cream; Cuckoorose; Daffy-down-dilly; Faerie Bells; Gold Bells; Golden Trumpets; Goose Leek; Golden Narcissus; Hoop Petticoats; King’s Spear; Lady’s Ruffles; Lent Cocks; Lent Lily; Queen Anne’s Flowers; St Peter’s Bell; Sun Bonnets; Yellow Maidens...to name but a few (Philips, 2012). The symbolism of this humble flower ranges from good fortune to death, taking in chivalry, conceit, deceit, hope, disdain, egotism, new beginnings, regard, regret, refusal, respect, self-esteem, and selfobsession (ibid.). The giving of Daffodils was
once meant to suggest ‘The sun shines when I’m with you’ (ibid.). The Daffodil is native to many parts of Britain and Europe, but its stories are rooted across the world, reaching to the East. Perhaps most well-known is the myth of Narcissus, who was so transfixed by his own reflected beauty and melancholy that he stabbed himself with a sword, frustrated that he could never obtain the object of his desire. From his blood sprang the white Daffodil with a red centre, and the cup is said to hold his tears (Philips, 2012). In another myth, it was as she lay among Daffodils that Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was snatched away to the underworld by Pluto. It is said this is why the flower became associated with death, used in wreaths or placed on graves (ibid.). In Christian mythology, the Daffodil first appears in the Garden of Gethsemane to comfort Jesus in his hour of sorrow, just before his arrest and subsequent crucifixion (ibid.). Whilst in China, the flower represents fortune, benevolence, and propriety after the legend of an old woman from Fukien province who gave her last bowl of rice to a beggar. Grateful for her generosity, the beggar ate his rice, spitting a few grains on the ground before leaving. The next day, an abundance of Daffodils grew where the rice had been, making the old woman rich from their sale and bringing fame to the Fukien province (ibid.). Closer to home, Daffodils are said to bloom on 1st March, the feast day of St David, the patron saint of Wales. Wearing a Daffodil close to your heart is said to bring good luck, but it is considered unlucky to take a single daffodil into your house. Yet placing a vase of daffodils in the bedroom is said to boost the fertility of those who sleep there. In medicine, Daffodils were once used to treat a variety of ailments— from coughs and colic to splinters and sunburn (ibid.).
