The Latest Detailed Guide to Narcissus Flower Meanings and Legends
Narcissus is one of China's top ten famous flowers and a fine offering for the Chinese folk custom of qinggong (pure offerings). Every New Year, people like to display narcissus as a festive New Year flower. The Chinese narcissus is a perennial herbaceous plant, and its bulbs look quite like onions and garlic, so it was called “elegant garlic” during the Six Dynasties and “heavenly scallion” in the Song Dynasty. Today, the editor will introduce the flower meanings and legends of narcissus for everyone.
The Flower Meanings of Narcissus
Respect: Among narcissus flower types, the one that influenced the British most deeply was the wild narcissus, which was loved by many British poets and painters, including the great poet Wordsworth. Therefore, the flower meaning of the wild narcissus is “respect.”
Intoxication: Psychoanalysts used Narcissus in Greek mythology, who fell in love with himself and thus died young, as an example. People with narcissistic, self-intoxicated personalities are called Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Therefore, the flower meaning of the pure white narcissus is “intoxication.” Anyone born under the blessing of this flower deeply loves themselves, yet cannot open their heart to accept others. Such people find it very hard to obtain true love and must open their hearts more.
March 16 birthday flower: pure white narcissus. Narcissus is the birth flower of Pisces.
Chinese narcissus: passionate, missing you;
Western narcissus: longing for love, loving you, purity;
Yellow narcissus: reliving love;
Mountain narcissus: beautiful times, thriving and flourishing.
The Legends of Narcissus
1. Legend One
Legend says that narcissus is the incarnation of Ehuang and Nüying, the daughters of Emperor Yao. The two of them married Shun together; the elder sister became empress, and the younger sister became a consort, and the three had a very good relationship. When Shun died during his southern inspection tour, Ehuang and Nüying both died for love in the Xiang River. Heaven took pity on their utmost love, so it transformed their souls into narcissus by the river, and they also became the flower gods of the twelfth-month narcissus.
2. Legend Two
It is said that in the Song Dynasty, an official from Fujian who served in the capital retired and returned home. When he traveled south by boat and was about to return to his hometown Zhangzhou, he saw an aquatic plant growing by the riverbank with fragrant small white flowers, so he had some collected and brought back for cultivation. According to the Zhang Family Genealogy of Caiban Township, during the Jingtai period of the Ming Dynasty, their ancestor Zhang Guanghui served as an education official in the capital. One winter he took leave to return home. When his boat passed Jishui, Jiangxi, he discovered wild flowers near the shore in the water with emerald-green leaves, yellow-white blossoms, and a refreshing fragrance, so he picked them up and brought them back to Caiban to cultivate into a new flower variety that was passed down.
3. Legend Three
Chongming narcissus came from Fujian. It was said that in the Tang Dynasty, Empress Wu Zetian wanted all flowers to bloom at the same time in her imperial garden. The flower deity in heaven did not dare disobey the decree, and the six narcissus sisters of Fujian were naturally no exception; they were forced to travel west to Chang'an. The youngest sister was unwilling to bloom for the empress alone, so when she passed the mouth of the Yangtze River and saw a pure patch of land in the middle of the river, she quietly slipped down to Chongming Island. Therefore, Fujian narcissus bloom five flowers per plant, while Chongming narcissus bloom with one flower fully open.
4. Greek Myth
Narcissus was a beautiful youth in Greek mythology. His father was the river god, and his mother was a nymph. After Narcissus was born, his mother received an oracle: when Narcissus grew up, he would be the most beautiful man in the world; however, he would pine away and die because he was infatuated with his own appearance. To avoid the oracle coming true, Narcissus's mother deliberately arranged for her son to grow up among mountains and forests, far from streams, lakes, and the sea, so that Narcissus would never be able to see his own appearance. Narcissus grew up safely in the mountains and forests as his mother wished, and, just as the oracle predicted, he was extraordinarily handsome and became the most beautiful man in the world. Maidens who saw him all fell deeply in love with him. However, Narcissus was arrogant by nature, and no woman could win his love. He only liked to hunt in the mountains and forests with companions all day and paid no attention to the maidens who were devoted to him.
The mountain nymph Echo fell in love with Narcissus at first sight, but since she could not express her feelings, she could only simply repeat others' words. Narcissus ignored her devotion. Narcissus's heart of stone broke her heart. She begged the goddess of love Aphrodite to punish him and make him suffer torment. Depression, longing, and gaining nothing made her leave her former companions and walk aimlessly into the forest. There, her sorrow only increased, her face grew haggard, and she disappeared from the mountains and forests, but her soft, beautiful voice always lingered in the secluded valley and would not leave. If you stroll in a silent mountain forest, she will respond to your voice. This is the mountain nymph Echo (echo).
Narcissus's cold, stone-like heart broke the maiden's heart. The goddess of retribution Nemesis could not stand it and decided to teach him a lesson. One day, Narcissus was hunting in the wild. The weather was unusually hot, and before long he was drenched in sweat. Just then, a breeze blew over, bringing waves of coolness, and he walked forward following the wind. As he wandered, what came before him was a lake as clear as a mirror. The lake was unfamiliar to Narcissus. Narcissus walked over and sat by the lake, just about to reach out and touch the lake water to see what it felt like, when he fixed his eyes on the smooth, mirror-like surface and saw a perfect face, and could not help but be astonished as if by a heavenly being. Narcissus thought: Who is this beauty? So beautiful. After gazing for a while, he noticed that when he waved to the beauty in the water, the beauty in the water also waved to him; when he smiled at the beauty in the water, the beauty in the water also smiled at him; but when he reached out to touch the beauty, the beauty immediately disappeared; when he withdrew his hand, after a while the beauty appeared again and looked at him with deep affection. Of course, Narcissus did not know that what appeared on the lake surface was actually his own reflection. He actually fell deeply in love with his own reflection. Unwilling to lose the person in the lake, he guarded the lakeside day and night. As day after day passed, Narcissus still did not sleep or eat, staying by the lake without rest, willingly becoming the guardian spirit of the beauty in his heart. Sometimes he lay down by the lake to rest, sometimes he wandered around the lake shore, but his gaze never left the reflection in the water. He always stared unblinkingly at the lake surface. In the end, the oracle still came true. Because he was infatuated with his own reflection, Narcissus sat withered and died by the lake.
After the nymphs learned of this, they were heartbroken and hurried to the lake, wanting to give Narcissus's body a proper burial. But by the lake where Narcissus used to sit, aside from a cluster of strange little flowers, there was nothing at all. It turned out that the god of love took pity on Narcissus and transformed him into a narcissus, blooming in places with water, so that he could forever look at his own reflection. That cluster of strange little flowers was serene, refined, aloof, and proud, and very beautiful. To commemorate Narcissus, the nymphs named this flower Narcissus, which is the narcissus flower. This is also why narcissus always grows by the water. Because of this story, people also use Narcissism to describe those who are unusually fond of their own appearance and have narcissistic tendencies.
Another version says that a swamp nymph took a fancy to him, and when they were intimate, he saw his own reflection in the swamp nymph's eyes. He wanted to see it again, so the swamp nymph deceived him by saying it was her soul, lured him into her world, and caused him to die in the swamp. There is also a saying that Narcissus had a twin sister, and the two had a very good relationship, but his sister died very young. Narcissus missed her very much. One day, he saw himself in the water of a pond, thought it was his sister, and stayed there for a long time refusing to leave, until in the end he died by the pond.