#birth flowers meaning

[sixminutestoriesblog]

marigolds

It's October! For half the hemisphere, the nights are getting longer, the wind is getting colder and the weather is taking on a distinct grey and overcast mood. What better time than now to steal a few last bursts of brilliant, warm sunshine and keep them close against the coming of winter?

Enter October's flower (one of them) - the marigold.

An interesting thing I found while researching this month's flower was that its native to the Americas - and yet some sites list the ancient Greeks and Romans having traditions surrounding the marigold. One of the sites even mentions the flower being introduced to the 'Americas' several sentences after telling me its native to Mexico. I think some of the confusion may come from the fact that there are marigolds of the Tagetes genus, which are the ones I think of when I think of marigolds, that were first mentioned by the Aztecs and are native to the Americas - and there is a flower, Calendula officinalis, called the 'pot marigold' which comes from the same daisy family but is a different genus and seems to originate in southern Europe. To add to the confusion, the Spanish imported the Tagetes marigold from the Americas and from Spain it spread to, particularly, monastery gardens across Europe where it was cultivated into various strains with names like the African or French marigold. The American marigold didn't even have an official genus name until 1753. So, sorting through marigold myths was a lot like playing 'guess which twin it is' for me especially since the majority of the sites I was wandering through either weren't aware of a difference or didn't differentiate. I found one site that marked the difference between them (shout out to growingvale.com). I can understand why. We're only talking flower folklore here, not nuclear codes. My little nitpicky soul though just wasn't happy until it figured out what was going on. I am now going to spew facts at you and try to tell you which flower is which for each of them.

We'll see how I do.

Let's start at the beginning.

Tagetes marigolds were first recorded as being cultivated by the Aztecs, who considered them both medicinal and sacred. That tradition has carried over into Mexico's el Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, which is celebrated either in late October or Early November depending on the region. How much of that is straight from the Aztecs and how much is later European influence via Catholicism is still up for debate but the marigold plays a special part in both. The brightness and strong scent of the marigold flowers are believed to help guide the spirits of the dead to their family and to the offerings left out for them. You watched Disney's Coco (or Fox's The Book of Life), you get it. The Day of the Dead is celebrated outside of Mexico as well, with traditions varying from place to place but right now, we're talking marigolds.

In a half step to the side of that, the Victorians also considered marigolds a funeral flower but in a solemn and grief-filled way that made their cheery color inappropriate for any other kind of bouquet.

In South Asia, the Tagetes marigold has in large part replaced Calendula officinalis marigold while still serving the same purpose. There marigolds are used to create garlands and decorations for weddings, festivals and sacred holidays. Both Buddhism and Hinduism attach spiritual significance to the flowers. In India, giving a garland of marigolds to someone is considered a sign of friendship.

Walking it back to our Calendula officinalis marigold, the common name of 'marigold' is actually a break down of 'Mary's gold'. The golden colored plant was often left on alters and shrines to the Virgin Mary in Catholic countries in the middle ages by people that couldn't afford to leave actual coins. Its bright sunshine color and availability to everyone soon became associated with her.

This is the marigold that the ancient Romans and Greeks used medicinally and that medieval Europe thought was a cure against the plague. This is also the marigold that was woven into garlands for doors and livestock in Ireland to keep away fairy attention.

Both branches of flowers are popular with love superstitions, representing never having to lose a love and as a good luck charm when it comes to love.

And let's round things off with a gardening fact. Marigold are considered excellent companion plants for most vegetable gardens because they repel pests from the big to the very tiny kind. Just check before you plant. Their roots also give off an antibacterial chemical that will wreck havoc on your legumes.

Happy birthday, October babies!

[caramelmochacrow]

happy birthday miyu!!!! (im sorry i almost forgot, i got distracted!)

[nostalgia-tblr]

u know, once someone has pointed out the orientalism in most of fandom's depictions of jotun!loki you can never unsee it.

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

i haven't worked on any more spiritfarer designs but i did clean up these two :p

June's spirit flower is an orange rose, Liam's is a forget-me-not c:

[bookwyrminspiration]

Confession: I didn't realize your pfp was a skull until now

Well, to be fair pfps display rather small, so it’s incredibly easy to see something that isn’t quite right in that tiny square—I incorrectly see my mutuals pfps all the time, I just get the general vibe and accept I’m not seeing the details right

But yeah! It’s a cracked skull with a mildly glitching lotus flower growing out of an eye socket :)

Out of curiosity, what did you think my pfp was, if you have an answer to that?

[scorpion-flower]

People will do anything to be a goth BESIDES listening to the music.

[amandasmurfee]

Preorders open from now until Feb 17 🌸

[fuyuseiza]

Jin day 2022 🐹🌟

Birth flower: rumex

“(This flower) symbolizes friendship, affection” (❀).

[sunflowerrboyy]

sketch of pt. ii of flower boys <3 adam met edition

[wa-royal-tea]

I googled lights and daffodils months ago when you first announced this arc so I was prepared for it to end in heartbreak but seeing the actual scene still made me cry. Leon and Nora looked so heartbroken ☹️

It's a fitting name for their arc 😢If you're a Mystic Messenger player, you might recognise the title from one of their routes OST and the lyrics to that song...it made me cry :')

[sixminutestoriesblog]

paperwhite (narcissus)

With Christmas taking up so much room in the month it can be hard to hear anything else over all that noise. Birthdays can either embrace it or try to ignore it completely. Nicely enough, this month gets a birthflower for both of those. December babes can embrace the holly -

or they can go a quieter route with the delicate paperwhite.

The paperwhite is a bulb flower native to the Mediterranean region. It's delicate paper-like petals are fragrant and often used in perfumes and each stalk will grow several flowers a piece. The paperwhite shares a family with daffodils as both are of the narcissus genus. Paperwhites are some of the first flowers to bloom in the spring each year but they're a favorite of winter gardeners because they are so easy to grow and bring to bloom indoors during the colder months. Unlike many bulbed plants, the paperwhite doesn't need a period of cold before it will begin to grow and it grows quite well either in pots of light soil or no soil at all, content to bloom with its roots in nothing but water. Simply set the plant growing and in as little as three weeks you'll have a lovely cluster of these cheerful white and yellow flowers scenting your home. Because of its easy nature, the paperwhite is one of the few flowers that will comfortably grow in December in the Northern Hemisphere and its delicate petals are a sweet change from the louder, dramatic colors of red poinsettia and holly. Pet owners need to beware however as the plants, particularly the bulbs are toxic.

As a member of the narcissus family, paperwhites are counted in the number of flowers, or a singular flower, that sprang up when the handsome youth, Narcissus, was cursed by Nemisis to fall in love with someone that would never love him back. Because this is Greek myth, when he caught sight of his own reflection in a pond one day, he did just that and ended up wasting away, unwilling to leave the beautiful face in the water even for food. From his body sprang the first narcissus flower and they have been growing along the banks of rivers and ponds ever since, nodding slowly over their own reflections in the silver water. In modern day tellings, Narcissus' story is a warning against becoming too self-centered and the word narcissist is derived from that idea. In some older tellings of the story however, Narcissus' only fault was in not returning the love of people that fell in love with him, a haunting early echo of how careful women have to be in modern times when turning down a romantically inclined suitor.

The narcissus flower, in this case the paperwhite, has grown beyond its original sad tale however. For instance, for the Kurdish people, the flower represents the beginning promise of the new year. In China, it is also associated with the new year and is said to symbolize prosperity and fortune, often given as a gift to wish exactly that on the receiver. Being one of the first flowers to bloom after winter ends, the narcissus flower is often considered a symbol of rebirth and hope. In fact, its association with hope is the reason it is often used as the emblem of cancer organizations. It is also popular around Easter with Christians for similar reasons.

Persian poetry often refers to a lover as being as beautiful as a narcissus and in Victorian England, giving your lover a gift of the flower was considered a way of saying they were the only one in your heart. A bouquet of paperwhites represented selfless and unconditional love. The scent of a narcissus flower is said to attract fairies (for better or worse).

For all their good connotations, narcissus flowers are not recommended for wedding bouquets. They are also said to be the flowers Persephone was gathering when Hades kidnapped her.

Paperwhites represent simplicity, purity and sweetness as well as faithfulness and respect.

They also, apparently, like a bit of vodka or gin in their water if you want to keep them from bowing over according to Cornell University.

Drink up, December babies!

[darewolfdq]

Lets see how far we’ve come- I ended up reuniting with 4/5 members of the band so I decided to do a drawing of our old OCs. The original second image was done by @sp00kybeann​ back in like 2012 (inactive on Tumblr but their Instagram is jackal0pez). The other OCs in this image belong to @thedoomhouse​ (inactive on Tumblr but their Instagram is rampagedoom), and cartoonykarol over on Instagram. Sadly I have not been able to find Eclipse after DQ shut down. But I do not own their OC. Undercut are some bonus art stuff and also a message for any Drawquesters that might see this {:)

I chopped a bit off of the final but here it is in full and without the tree’s shadow

Bonus polaroid that doesn't even show up well on Tumblr. Click on it and it might look a tad better.

Bonus close up of orange cuz when I scanned them in they turned red, so I erased most of the colored pencil and went over them with yellow to make them a much brighter orange but when I scanned it in one last time it was still alot more red than what it actually was. Wack.

Hi! Are you someone who used to use Drawquest before the shutdown occurred? Me too! Back when they pulled the plug on our little app I ended up losing everyone who I considered a friend back then. In 2019 two of my friends ended up finding me and now we have put together a discord server to try and get into contact and reunite as many people as we can. We don’t have many members right now but please please please consider reaching out. The channel acts as a sort of database of users so you can come in and see if you recognize anyone / see if anyone recognizes you. You don’t have to be an active user in the discord channel if you don’t want, to we just ask that you at least put down your old user name from Drawquest and maybe some of your old art if you have it (to make identification easier).

[jeevanjali]

Lucky Flower: जन्म के महीने के अनुसार भाग्यशाली फूलLucky Flower: जिस महीने में बच्चे का जन्म होता है उस महीने से जुड़े कई तथ्य हैं, जो उनके लिए भाग्यशाली हो सकते हैं। फूलों को लेकर कई तरह के तर्क भी दिए जाते हैं

[marshymallo]

hey siri, how do i convince my grandma that me getting another tattoo is a good idea??

[vintagecultureblog]

December Birth Flowers - Meaning , History, Speciality & More

What are Birth Flowers?  A cultural tradition known as “birth flowers,” sometimes known as “birth month flowers,” is one in which a different flower is traditionally associated with each of the twelve months of the year (hence the name “birth flowers”). People who were born in the corresponding months are honored with these natural signs and symbols. The links between these flowers and their…

[thecanadianweeb]

y’all i think it’s real… i am an official homosexual!!