The Flower Language and Legendary Stories of Narcissus Explained
Narcissus is one of China's top ten famous flowers and a fine traditional offering among the Chinese people. Every New Year, people love to display narcissus as a festive New Year flower. Chinese narcissus is a perennial herbaceous plant, and its bulb looks quite like an onion or garlic, so during the Six Dynasties it was called "elegant garlic," and in the Song Dynasty it was called "heavenly scallion." Today, the editor will introduce the flower language and legends of narcissus.
The Flower Language of Narcissus
Respect: Among narcissus varieties, the one that has had the deepest influence on the English is the wild narcissus, which was loved by many English poets and painters, including the great poet Wordsworth. Therefore, the flower language of the wild narcissus is "respect."
Intoxication: Psychoanalysts use Narcissus from Greek mythology, who fell in love with himself and died young as a result, as an example. They call people of the narcissistic, self-intoxicated type cases of Narcissism. Therefore, the flower language of the pure white narcissus is "intoxication." Anyone born under the blessing of this flower loves themselves deeply but cannot open their heart to accept others. Such people find it hard to gain true love and must open their hearts more.
Birthday flower for March 16: 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: rekindling love;
Mountain narcissus: beautiful times, flourishing prosperity.
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 both married Shun, with the elder sister becoming empress and the younger sister becoming a concubine, and the three shared a very good relationship. When Shun died during his southern inspection tour, Ehuang and Nüying both sacrificed their lives for love at the Xiang River. Heaven took pity on their deep love, so it transformed their souls into narcissus by the river, and they also became the flower gods of narcissus in the twelfth lunar month.
2. Legend Two
It is said that during the Song Dynasty, an official from Fujian serving in the capital retired and returned home. As he traveled south by boat and was about to reach his hometown of Zhangzhou, he saw an aquatic plant growing by the riverbank with fragrant small white flowers, so he had some collected and brought back to cultivate. 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, and as his boat passed Jishui in Jiangxi, he found by the shore in the water wild flowers with emerald green leaves, yellow-white blossoms, and a refreshing fragrance, so he picked them up and brought them back to Caiban to cultivate, developing them into a new variety that was passed down.
3. Legend Three
Chongming narcissus came from Fujian. In the Tang Dynasty, Empress Wu Zetian wanted all flowers to bloom at the same time in her imperial garden. The flower deities in heaven did not dare disobey the decree, and the six narcissus sisters of Fujian were naturally no exception, forced to travel west to Chang'an. The youngest sister was unwilling to bloom for the empress alone. 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. That is why Fujian narcissus blooms five flowers per plant, while Chongming narcissus blooms one flower in full glory.
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 waste 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 the mountains and forests, far from streams, lakes, and the sea, so that Narcissus would never be able to see his own appearance. As his mother wished, Narcissus grew up safely among the mountains and forests, and as the oracle had foretold, his appearance was extraordinarily handsome, making him the most beautiful man in the world. Every maiden who saw him 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 all day with his companions, paying no attention to the maidens who were devoted to him.
The mountain nymph Echo fell in love with Narcissus at first sight, but because she could not express her feelings, she could only simply repeat the last words of others. Narcissus paid no attention to her devotion. Narcissus's heart of stone broke her heart completely. 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 beauty faded, and she disappeared from the mountains and forests, but her soft, beautiful voice forever 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.
Narcissus's cold face and heart of stone broke the maiden's heart. The goddess of revenge Nemesis could not stand it and decided to teach him a lesson. One day, Narcissus was hunting in the wild, and the weather was unusually hot. 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 toward him was a lake as clear as a mirror. The lake was unfamiliar to Narcissus. Narcissus walked over, sat by the lake, and was just about to reach out to touch the lake water and see what it felt like, when, as he fixed his eyes on the smooth, mirror-like surface, he saw a perfect face and could not help but be astonished as if seeing 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, before long, the beauty appeared again and looked at him with deep affection. Narcissus of course 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, willing to be the guardian spirit of the beauty in his heart. Sometimes he lay by the lake to rest, sometimes he paced around the shore, but his gaze never left the reflection in the water, always staring fixedly at the lake surface. In the end, the oracle still came true. Because he was infatuated with his own reflection, Narcissus sat withering until he died by the lake.
When the nymphs learned of this, they were overcome with grief and hurried to the lake, wanting to give Narcissus's body a proper burial. But by the lakeside where Narcissus used to sit, apart from a clump 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 narcissus, blooming in places with water, so that he could forever look at his own reflection. That clump of strange little flowers was pure, refined, aloof, and solitary, and extremely beautiful. To commemorate Narcissus, the nymphs named this flower Narcissus, which is the narcissus flower. And this is also the reason why narcissus always grows by the water. Because of this story as well, people 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 she became intimate with him, 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 that it was her soul, luring him into her world. And she caused him to die in the swamp. There is also another account that says 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 and thought it was his sister, so he stayed there for a long time and refused to leave, until in the end he died by the pond.