The Latest Interpretation of the Flower Meaning and Legend of the Night-blooming Jasmine

The night-blooming jasmine is native to South China, growing in hillside thickets. It is now cultivated in all the southern provinces and regions for ornamental purposes. It blooms in summer and autumn, with yellow-green flowers that open in the evening and give off bursts of strong, heady fragrance, which is especially intense at night. In the south it is often used to adorn courtyards, windowsides, pond edges and pavilion sides. Now let us take a look together at what the flower meaning of the night-blooming jasmine is!

The Flower Meaning of the Night-blooming Jasmine

A pure heart, happiness, beauty, independence, rebellion.

The Story of the Night-blooming Jasmine

Legend tells of a young man in ancient times whose flute playing was so beautiful that everyone knew of it. On a summer evening with a lovely moon, he leaned against a tree and played his flute, when suddenly a beautiful fairy came floating down from the clouds. The fairy said: because Chang'e had heard his flute playing and liked it very much, she invited the young man to the moon palace to serve as a musician.

Yet the young man was reluctant to leave the mortal world, and asked the fairy to delay one day before going to the moon palace, but the fairy did not agree, and only took the jade hairpin from her head and gave it to him as a keepsake. When the fairy tossed it to him in the air, the young man failed to catch it, and no matter how he searched, he could not find the jade hairpin that had fallen to the ground.

In the end, the jade hairpin became a flower, and the young man remained in the mortal world forever. This flower not only gives off fragrance at night, but especially under the bright moonlight emits a rich, fragrant scent, so it also has the lovely name of “lover of the night”.

The Legend of the Night-blooming Jasmine

Long ago, there was a fairy in the heavenly palace who, having violated the rule against love, was turned by the Queen Mother of the West into a seed and scattered in the courtyard of an abandoned temple in the mortal world, where year after year she watched over the Buddha statue. As day after day passed, the seed gradually sprouted, unfurled its leaves, and would bloom holding sweet dew, then wither with the setting sun. Her dull life could only leave her admiring her own beauty in solitude, weeping all day long. Even when a beautiful scene occasionally passed by, it could not add the slightest brilliance to her life.

At last, one night, a firefly flew to her side, dancing and singing around her, bringing her the only happiness in the mortal world. Only the firefly could understand her heart, making her show a happy smile. By the arrangement of fate, they fell in love. That summer, she truly lived very happily. But perhaps, when love is not deep enough, promises seem immeasurably heavy. When things that should never happen are about to appear, some foreboding sense of destiny arises in the dark. “This temple seems to be getting smaller and smaller.” The night-blooming jasmine always sighed helplessly like this.

She would never forget that unforgettable conversation.

“In this temple, you are still my greatest love.”

“Then, once you leave the temple gate, you can fly freely, and even the sky will be covered with your footprints.”

“There are too many stars in the sky. Each star is like a glittering needle that will pierce me full of holes and leave me covered in wounds.”

“But only a few stars in the sky are shining.”

“Because the rest of the stars have rusted, I still cannot avoid the pain of the needle's prick.”

The firefly always said many things that made her happy, but she could not understand the voice deep in the firefly's heart.

Only under certain circumstances can vows reveal their moving power. Knowing there would be no forever, she still wanted to give everything for her own persistence.

Summer was about to pass before her eyes. On a beautiful night, she finally mustered her courage, changed the worldly order, and let her flower bloom freely at night, waiting for the firefly to fly over and see the way she bloomed. That night, the sky was full of stars, and the floral fragrance filled the entire temple, but the firefly never appeared.

She would never know that the firefly was merely an envoy sent down to the mortal world by the Queen Mother of the West, to plant a knot of love for her once. If she could stay far from this love, she could return to her original world. Yet when true love arrives, who can dodge it?

From then on, on every summer night, she bloomed her beautiful flowers waiting for the firefly to fly back, but she could never wait for that day…….