What Is the Lily of the Valley Flower Meaning? Interpreting the Symbolism and Significance of Lily of the Valley
Although lily of the valley has small flowers and the whole plant looks very delicate, its fragrance is extremely rich. Do you know what the lily of the valley flower meaning is?
What Is the Lily of the Valley Flower Meaning
Lily of the valley flower meaning: the return of happiness
Lily of the valley has a compact form, a pleasant floral fragrance, and small bell-shaped flowers. In France, lily of the valley is a symbol of purity and happiness. Every year on May 1, French people give each other lily of the valley to wish one another a year of happiness. The recipient usually hangs the flowers in a room and keeps them for the whole year, symbolizing that happiness will always remain.
May 1, International Workers' Day, is also a traditional festival in France: Lily of the Valley Day. On this day, friends give each other these small white clusters of bell-shaped flowers. The ringing white bells symbolize the arrival of your friends, the arrival of spring, the arrival of good luck, and happiness that will accompany you throughout the year.
The origins of May Day go back a long way. In ancient times, this day was a day for going out to sea to fish. The Celts regarded it as an auspicious symbol and considered this day the first season of the year. In 1561, Charles IX received a bouquet of lily of the valley with an auspicious meaning on this day, so he gave a bouquet of these flowers to all the ladies of the court. For a long time, lily of the valley served as an ornament for lovers' trysts. In many European countries there are traditional lily of the valley balls. Parents are not allowed to interfere with the activities on this day: girls wear white long dresses, and boys wear lily of the valley in their buttonholes.
Just like the sorrowful legend of the birth of lily of the valley, the happiness of lily of the valley comes especially hard and is accompanied by a faint, fateful sorrow. The waiting of lily of the valley is like the indistinct sigh of stars in the wind, vast and serene, sensed only by those who are attentive; the temperament of lily of the valley is as pure and translucent as the steadfast, gentle faith in love of a woman in the wind, which can be tasted only with full concentration.
If you cannot catch from the night wind the faint fragrance of lily of the valley, light as the sigh of stars, how can you follow the scent to the valley where lily of the valley blooms? If you do not wholeheartedly watch over it, how can you happen to reach its side right when the lily of the valley's moment comes? The waiting of lily of the valley is only for the most attentive person, and the music of lily of the valley lightly tapped by the wind can be heard only by the one who loves it most. In order to obtain true love, lily of the valley waits in a lonely valley for its own spring to arrive... The lily of the valley flower blooms only with the spring breeze of May, and its flower meaning is the return of happiness.
The Legend of the Lily of the Valley Flower
Lily of the valley legend one
Legend says that Adam and Eve believed the lie of the great serpent and ate the forbidden fruit, and Saint Leonard, the guardian saint of the forest, swore to kill the great serpent. During the struggle with the great serpent, Leonard finally exhausted himself and perished together with the great serpent. From the land after his death grew fragrant lily of the valley with small white flowers shaped like little bells. The lily of the valley growing from that cold land is the incarnation of Saint Leonard, embodying his blood and spirit. According to this legend, if you give lily of the valley to relatives and friends, the god of happiness will descend upon the recipient.
Lily of the valley legend two
There is a beautiful legend in Ukraine that long ago a beautiful girl waited devotedly for her lover who had gone off to war, and the tears of longing fell on the grass in the forest and turned into the fragrant lily of the valley; some also say those were pearls scattered from Snow White's broken pearl necklace, and others say they were the little lanterns of the 7 dwarfs; there is also a legend about a youth named "Landysh" (the Russian word for lily of the valley), who was heartbroken because his lover "Vesna" (meaning spring in Russian) left him, and the youth's tears turned into white flowers, while the blood flowing from his broken heart turned into the red berries of lily of the valley.
Lily of the valley is the flower of the goddess of sunrise in ancient Nordic legend, a fresh flower offered to the goddess of sunrise; lily of the valley is also a sacred flower of the Native Americans of North America. The romantic French even have a special "Lily of the Valley Day." On "Lily of the Valley Day" in May, French people give each other small lily of the valley flowers, symbolizing the arrival of happiness and good fortune.